Red Wings notes: Robby Fabbri healthy, ready for training camp in September

Detroit — Robby Fabbri was back to playing hockey on a hot Monday afternoon.

Granted, it was street hockey, as part of the Red Wings' “Street Hockey in The D: Summer Series," but it was hockey with a bunch of enthusiastic kids.

But Fabbri, who said he had a "little concussion" at the end of the season forcing him to miss the final 17 games, will be ready to go for September's training camp.

"Good to go," said Fabbri, after Monday's event at Patton Memorial Center. "I'm 100 percent now. I've been training for a couple of months and everything is back to normal. It's nice to get healthy right at the beginning of summer and not miss any of the training."

Fabbri last played April 3 in Tampa. He did go on the ice and was practicing on a couple of occasions, but setbacks kept him out of games.

"As we ramped it up a little bit I had a couple setbacks, so we kind of took the process a little slow and made sure we weren't risking any future things coming up," Fabbri said. "Just made sure it was properly healed and didn't want to rush anything."

More: Ted Kulfan's 2021 NHL mock draft 2.0: Plenty of questions, unknowns, heading into weekend

The concussion occurred on a hit, said Fabbri, that didn't seem anything out of the ordinary.

"I got caught on the jaw, one of those things that happens millions of times in a game," Fabbri said. "But this one rung the bell a little different, so we just wanted to make sure I was healthy."

Fabbri has already begun skating regularly at the Wings' practice rink with players in town, such as Danny DeKeyser, Vladislav Namestnikov, Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Michael Rasmussen and Thomas Greiss.

Fabbri enjoyed being back in the community Monday and having fun with young fans. The pandemic eliminated any sort of community relations projects.

"This was a lot of fun," Fabbri said. "We missed doing that throughout the year and interacting with our fans, especially the youth, and doing things like this."

Larkin, Bertuzzi update

Larkin (neck) and Bertuzzi (back surgery) have begun light skating, but coach Jeff Blashill, also at Monday's event, isn't saying for sure the two forwards will be ready to begin training camp.

"(Larkin's) progressing in a manner that we think he'll be ready," Blashill said. "In those two months (before camp) things happen. Certainly I would never guarantee anybody would be ready, things can happen. But I know Dylan is at LCA (Little Caesars Arena) on a daily basis and he's progressing.

"Same with Bert. They're in the same boat that way, which is probably nice they can do that together. They're different injuries, but they're moving at the same rate together."

Excited about Leddy

Blashill was pleased by the addition Friday of defenseman Nick Leddy from the New York Islanders.

The Wings sent forward Richard Panik and a second-round draft pick in this weekend's draft to the Islanders.

"Nick adds a player who has been a legit top-4 defenseman for a long time in this league," Blashill said. "He's an excellent skater, and the people I know on New York that I've talked to say he's an excellent person.

"On top of that, he's been in an organization that wins in a fashion that we're going to have to win like. Barry Trotz (Islanders' coach) is one of the best coaches in the league, so he's been well coached, and they have an excellent coaching staff, so we're excited."

Preseason slate set

The Wings will return to the ice at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday, Sept. 30, for their first of four home preseason games. The Wings announced their eight-game preseason schedule Monday.

The schedule is:

►Wednesday, Sept. 29: at Blackhawks (8:30)

►Thursday, Sept. 30: vs. Sabres (7:30)

►Saturday, Oct. 2: vs. Blue Jackets (7)

►Sunday, Oct. 3: at Penguins (1)

►Monday, Oct. 4: vs. Blackhawks (7:30)

►Wednesday, Oct. 6: at Blue Jackets (7)

►Thursday, Oct. 7: vs. Penguins (7:30)

►Saturday, Oct. 9: at Sabres (3)

Ticket information will be announced in the coming days.

Draft help

The Wings announced at Monday's event one of the kids participating, Harold Washington Jr., 10, of Detroit, will help general manager Steve Yzerman announce Friday's draft pick.

The summer hockey series provide more than 100 youth across Detroit with the opportunity to participate in a six-week in person clinic series.

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tkulfan