The Minnesota Wild secured some of their defensive future yesterday afternoon when they announced the contract extension of Minnesota native Brock Faber. It’s an eight-year deal worth $68 million and an average annual value of about $8.5 million. This signing shouldn’t surprise anyone who watched him this past season, especially when he was runner-up to Connor Bedard for the Calder Memorial Trophy for best rookie in the NHL.
Faber was one of the Wild’s few bright spots, and he undoubtedly earned this extension. In this article, we’ll examine how this signing will impact the Wild both defensively and offensively. He has a great personality that fit into the lineup immediately and has been a permanent fixture since. We’ll look at his defensive impact first and move on from there.
Faber’s a Model Defenseman
When watching Faber play, it’s clear he has all of the important qualities a model defenseman needs. He played in all 82 games and was second on the team in blocked shots with 150 blocks. He wasn’t afraid to throw his body in front of a shot if it meant it wouldn’t get to his goaltender.
He watches the puck whenever he’s on the ice and knows how the play will unfold. He may have been beaten a time or two, but at just 21 years old, he was able to shut down players like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and many other top NHLers. His level of composure for someone his age surpassed that of many other veterans in the NHL.
The really impressive part of his game was his ability to make a mistake, instantly learn from it, make up for it, and not make it again. His turnovers were a bit high as stated in his grade report, but those will get better as he gets used to the timing of things in the NHL and not allowing the puck to get snatched when he makes a pass or takes a shot.
Faber Surprises Offensively
Faber has all the talents of a typical stay-at-home defenseman, but he also surprised those unfamiliar with his play with his offensive skills. He used his high hockey IQ to judge when to jump into the play or when to hang back and watch from the point. Typically, players his age show a lot of nerves and jump the gun on when to join the play and when not to, but that wasn’t the case with him.
He jumped into the play quite a bit and wasn’t afraid to take shots when he could and even when he couldn’t. He took 136 shots throughout the season, scored eight goals, and assisted on 39 others for 47 points. 31 of those points were even strength, and the other 16 were on the power play. Faber’s offensive abilities are great, but so is his ability to stay grounded. In the press conference held by the Wild with general manager Bill Guerin and Faber after his signing, he proved his mentality.
“I always try and be myself, you know, money, contracts aside, the way I look at the game, the way I respect the game. I respect my teammates; I go about my business. It’s not going to change who I am or, again, what the goal is, what the task is at hand, and that’s to win, obviously, and I feel like that’s a big reason we’re on the same page, that’s really the only thing I care about, that’s the only thing that guys care about in the room, and I’m just again grateful that we can take this step and that I get to keep growing, keep learning, keep maturing for a long time here playing in Minnesota….” Faber said in the press conference.
Faber Works With Everyone
Something to admire about Faber is his capability to work with almost anyone he’s paired with, which also goes for offense. His defensive partners switched a lot throughout the season, thanks to injuries. He had chemistry with Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, and Jake Middleton, each pair having its own unique way of working. Even offensively, he found ways to work with the different forward lines on the ice.
It’s also important to note his ability to adapt to different situations that are usually never thrown at a rookie. However, when Spurgeon and Brodin went down with injuries, he stepped up in unexpected ways. He took over the top penalty-killing unit and handled it smoothly, but then he was also put into the position of running the top power-play unit and did that just as well.
Faber’s time on ice surpassed 30 minutes a game several times throughout the season, and he seemed like he could just keep going. However, the Wild did pull him back from some of those duties on and off throughout the season because while he could handle them, he needed a break to be able to perform his other duties at the level they expected.
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Players aren’t expected to be the top defenseman while running both the penalty kill and top power-play unit as a rookie, especially when the team struggled to stay out of the box, so he was often exhausted. Thankfully, the team realized he was doing a bit too much and spread the responsibilities around the roster so he could focus on his defensive priorities.
This signing is great news for the Wild. As Spurgeon and Brodin get older, they need to make sure they have up-and-coming players ready to take over the roles. Faber is one of those players who will lead the team in the future, and locking him up now means they won’t have to worry about it for eight more seasons. Hopefully, he will continue to raise the bar each season as he did this past season, and the Wild will be partially set defensively.
