Hamilton Signs Robby Fabbri, Antonio Stranges To PTOs

The Hamilton Hammers have not had an ideal start to their inaugural season, dealing with a slow start along with key injuries, including one to forward Cole Eiserman, while Mitchell Chaffee, who initially led the Hammers in scoring, has been in the NHL for the better part of a month now.

In light of the injuries, along with a 3-8-2 start, the Hammers have made two moves on Friday morning.

The team first announced they signed AHL veteran Antonio Stranges to a PTO.

Stranges, 24, was a fourth-round pick of the Dallas Stars in 2020. 

He's a veteran of 208 AHL games, all with the Texas Stars. He's also played 18 AHL Playoff games in his career.

Stranges posted 14 goals and 34 points in 70 games last season. The year prior, Stranges posted 18 goals and 43 points in 55 AHL games.

Additionally, the team made a bigger splash by inking longtime NHL veteran Robby Fabbri to a PTO.

Fabbri, 30, is a veteran of 463 NHL games, with his career spanning back to the 2015-16 season.

He played 21 NHL games last year, 15 with the St. Louis Blues, then 6 with the Minnesota Wild.

In those games, he scored 2 goals and 5 points.

Fabbri also played three AHL Games with the Charlotte Checkers. Before that, he hadn’t played an AHL Game since 2018-19.

Fabbri's only ever played a total of 9 AHL games in his entire career, but has 3 goals and 8 points in those games.

Both forwards will be strong depth additions to Hamilton, even if only temporarily via the PTO.