The Tampa Bay Lightning could do a lot worse than taking a look at Robby Fabbri when camp opens.
With free agency thinning out, the idea here is simple: bring in a forward on a professional tryout and see whether there’s still something useful to mine. Fabbri fits that lane. He’s not coming off a huge season, but his track record gives him a real case to be one of the more intriguing names left on the board.
Last season, Fabbri appeared in 21 games combined for the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild, finishing with two goals and five points.
Before that, he put up eight goals and 16 points in 44 games with the Anaheim Ducks in 2024-25. The production has dipped lately, no question, but there’s enough history here to justify a camp invite.
The strongest argument for Tampa Bay is what Fabbri has already shown he can do when things are going right. In 2023-24 with the Detroit Red Wings, he scored 18 goals and totaled 32 points in 68 games.
That wasn’t a one-off either. The 2014 first-round pick has reached at least 15 goals and 30 points four times in his career, which says plenty about his ability to chip in as secondary offense.
There’s also the workload piece. Fabbri has only played more than 60 games three times in his NHL career, so durability has been part of the conversation too. That makes a PTO even more logical for Tampa Bay: no long-term commitment, just a chance to see whether he can still help.
If Fabbri earns a contract out of camp, the Lightning could wind up with a useful addition to their forward depth. And if not, the club loses nothing by finding out.
In Other News...
Lightning Prospect Tomas Kralovic Faces A Big Test In Tampa Bay's System
Tomas Kralovic enters Tampa Bays pipeline with some real intrigue for a young defenseman. The Lightning took the right-shot blueliner in the third round of the 2026 draft, then moved quickly to get him under contract, and his profile fits the kind of upside-hunting pick teams make when they believe there is more to unlock. He brings skating and offensive production from the Slovak Extraliga, two traits that tend to travel well if a prospect can handle the jump in pace.
Now comes the harder part. Kralovic is expected to begin his North American career in Syracuse, where the margin for error shrinks fast and every touch of the puck is under more pressure than it was overseas. For a young defenseman trying to turn promise into something more, the next step is not just about showing skill, but about proving he can manage the speed and pressure that come with a tougher level of hockey. [Read more 🡒]