A system and method can support efficient packet switching in a network environment. A networking device, such as a network switch, which includes a crossbar fabric, can be associated with a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports. Furthermore, the networking device operates to detect a link state change at an output port on the networking device. The output port can provide one or more credits to an output scheduler, and the output scheduler allows one or more packets targeting the output port to be dequeued from one or more virtual output queues, based on the one or more credits.