We're also so spoiled we thing Fabbro is what a 3rd pairing guy should look like.....Yeah, he has been... ok... as a bottom pairing guy. I mean, we didn't have a high bar for our bottom pair after the last few years of Irwin/Weber types. I feel like maybe the organization was hoping for a little more from Benning, and that made us as fans hope he might be a "good" bottom pairing guy. Whereas instead he has been more like "somewhat adequate". But "adequate" is still better than what we've been used to.
But we also dared to dream that our 3rd pair might be PK players for us, and our PK system started so horrendously that I think it helped make those D look worse to us than they really are. So hopefully we haven't see the best of Benning yet.
There is literally no person on this board who thinks Fabbro is what a 3rd pairing guy should look like. Most of us would like to see Fabbro on the 1st pair.
So what will you be saying when he's always trying to cover for a subpar defensive partner that can't read or react to what he's doing? This concept is a self fulfilling prophecy. Same as not playing Tolvanen in situation to succeed or to less an extent Trenin. Everyone is clamoring for Trenin to be moved up in the lineup and he's a "well his talents might translate" type player where Fabbro has already displayed that his talent and understanding of the game make him a minimum of top 4 defender in the league.
He's better more than he's bad, if that makes any sense, which favors keeping him in the role he's currently playing in. If he looked way over his head, or was regressing (he's not), I could see slotting him down a bit. On the whole, fully agree with you though. Until these young players show they are completely not ready to play in their roles, give them them the opportunity. This is a great season for potential player development, even if our coach isn't using it correctly.
