Makar vs Fabbro:. Months apart in age and putting up similar numbers in college...who's better? GO
They're just so immensely different players and their situations are so completely different that it's not really a comparison you can make at this point. Fabbro has that extra year of experience at the NCAA level and a much better team around him with a much higher pedigree; but he also didn't have nearly as much responsibility & opportunity placed upon his shoulders right away. With Makar and the other new players Umass has an 8-6 record after going 5-29-2 last year, and Makar is clearly their star player who the entire team is built around. That is just such a radically different environment for a young player than slowly being worked up the totem pole by one of the powerhouses of that level.
And that's not even getting into just how disparate their strengths & weaknesses as players are.
Personally, I'm always fond of seeing young talents playing pivotal roles in their teams' success, even if that level of success is much more moderate; but that isn't the end-all, be-all. In the long run I'm thrilled that we have Makar, but that doesn't take anything away from Fabbro...who could well end up the better NHLer, especially with BU & Nashville's track records of developing NHL talents & the risk of Makar stagnating before making all of the strides he'll need to to reach that Duncan Keith 2.0 potential that he got hyped for having in the build up to the draft.
I'm just in love with how smart, driven, skilled & ridiculously explosive Makar is...throw in him measuring in bigger than expected at the combine, his excellent debut on the TC scene during the summer series, and the huge role he's playing in Umass's turn around this season; and my excitement over Makar has only grown over the past year.