Wild Rookie Brock Faber Wants All the Minutes and No Credit

The Minnesota Wild have been battling uphill all season and most of their obstacles have been self inflicted. On defense, outside of letting Matt Dumba go in free agency, the problem has been health.

Brock Faber: Minnesota Wild’s defensive rock

Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon have both spent a large chunk of the season on Injured Reserve, leaving rookie defenseman from the University of Minnesota, Brock Faber, to play minutes that not even the most trusted D-men in the NHL reach.

Brock Faber set a new career-high in TOI tonight with 33:25, and has eclipsed the 30-minute TOI mark in four of his last five games. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/8qUUYmcByr

— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) December 22, 2023

On the season, Faber is now up to 24:28 minutes per game, easily first on the Wild and top-15 in the NHL (14). Next closest to the former Gopher is Jonas Brodin (23:59), who’s played 25 games, but is currently out with an injury. Brock has played 31 and counting.

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Want more stats? Brock is getting all the minutes because he’s so damn good. He leads the Wild in defensive point shares (2.1), outpacing 2nd place Brodin (1.4) by a considerable amount.

\His 2.8 total point share is 2nd only to Kirill Kaprizov (3.4). He’s 3rd in blocks (54) and 1st in 5v5 assists (13). Last night vs the Canadiens, he even potted his second goal of the season. With 2/3 of the season left to play, there’s no doubting Faber’s likelihood as a Calder Trophy finalist.

🚨 BROCK FABER 🚨

Time to talk about the Calder, Wild now up 3-2 #mnwild pic.twitter.com/lW5k4IsYGD

— Minny Hockey (@MinnyHockey) December 22, 2023

The Minnesota Wild have been below .500 for most of the season and this kid is playing more than anyone else so his +/- must look pretty bad, right? Nope, first on the team (+12). The team, in general, has a penalty problem. But Brock Faber, not so much (12 PIM).

Great player, better dude

As a rookie, whose only prior NHL experience came at the very end of 2022-23, the 21-year-old from Maple Grove has been the Wild’s best player, through 31 games. How does he do it? Well, if you ask him… it’s because of his teammates.

One of the best things about Brock Faber, is his praise for his teammates, never about himself, impressive to see as a rookie, humble as they come #mnwild pic.twitter.com/oE5jxpaJBP

— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) December 22, 2023

Bill Guerin has been one of team’s biggest distractions early this season but trading away Kevin Fiala for Brock Faber a couple of years ago, which wasn’t an easy move and widely criticized for quite some time, looks like the best move he’s made as head honcho of the Minnesota Wild

I think he and every other person who cheers for the Wild will join me in thanking the hockey gods for Brock Faber.

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