But even Faber’s biggest supporters had to be surprised by his performance with the U.S. team during the 4 Nations Face-Off, which came to an end on Thursday night with Canada beating the United States 3-2 in overtime of the championship game.

Faber spent the majority of the four games playing with Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin on the United States’ first defensive pairing. Slavin received well-earned praise for his play throughout Thursday’s game from ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro, but it was Faber whom U.S. coach Mike Sullivan trusted to log extensive ice time as Slavin’s partner.

Faber averaged 23 minutes, 20 seconds in the tournament’s four games; Slavin was at 23:16. In Thursday’s finale, Faber played 28:50, Slavin 26:50. Not bad considering U.S. coach Mike Sullivan had Faber playing with Noah Hanifin on the third pairing to open the tournament, but moved Faber to the top pair in the opening game against Finland.

Why the quick rise?

Because while Faber might not be flashy, the 22-year-old is one of the most reliable and smartest defensemen in the game. The 4 Nations not only put that on display for everyone to see, but also will leave no doubt in Faber’s mind about his game.

The highest compliment one can pay Faber is that he makes the difficult look effortless — especially in his own end. Faber finished the 4 Nations as a plus-3 and also had two assists, including a shot that was tipped in by Wild teammate Matt Boldy to give the U.S. a 2-1 lead against Finland.

“Brock Faber, in my mind, is an emerging star,” Sullivan, the Penguins coach, told The Athletic. “How old is he, 22? And the stage wasn’t too big for a guy like that. I was so impressed with his maturity.”

Brock Faber has six goals and 16 assists through 52 games with the Wild this season. He’s also averaging 24:55 time-on-ice per game. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Faber’s contributions were even more important because the U.S. lost star defenseman Quinn Hughes to injury before the 4 Nations and then lost Charlie McAvoy two games into the tournament.

Back to work with the Wild
Faber now will go from the intensity of the 4 Nations to rejoining the Wild as they resume play in the middle of a playoff race and with 26 games left in the regular season. The Wild are two points behind second-place Dallas in the Central Division and two points ahead of Colorado, which holds the top wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Faber isn’t going to have the luxury of taking a breath. With some players that might be a concern, but with Faber you expect him to make the type of seamless transition that he does when he’s skating the puck out of his own end.

Faber, who leads the Wild in average ice time with 24:54 a game, never seems to tire.

That was true in his rookie season when he played all 82 games and averaged three more seconds of ice time than he has this season. He had eight goals and 47 points in 2023-24 and six goals and 22 points in 52 games this season.

Watching Faber in the 4 Nations, it hammered home the point he should have won the Calder Trophy last season as the NHL’s rookie of the year. He finished second in voting to the Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard, the heralded first-overall pick in the 2023 draft. Bedard had led rookies in goal (22) and points (61) and tied Faber for first in assists (39) in 68 games.

Bedard might have a great career — he wasn’t on the Canadian team at the 4 Nations — but Faber was the more reliable and better player and that remains the case. That’s why he ended up being such a big part of the U.S. roster at the 4 Nations and why he’s a shoo-in to be on the Olympic roster next February in Italy.

We have a feeling he won’t be starting off on the third defensive pairing either.

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But that isn’t likely to be the case, considering how often no-trade and no-move clauses are handed out to veteran players these days. The list of Wild players with at least some form of trade protection includes forwards Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman. All were signed to contract extensions during training camp.

So who could Guerin look to move? The top Wild veterans who don’t have no-trade or no-move clauses include forwards Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek; defenseman Jake Middleton; and goalie Filip Gustavsson.

Obviously, Kaprizov, Boldy and Eriksson Ek aren’t going anywhere and remain an important part of the Wild’s future. But Gustavsson and Middleton could be another story.

Guerin might not have an appetite to part with Gustavsson, but considering the number of contenders desperate for goaltending help, some of the offers might be too good to turn down. Among the teams looking to add a quality goalie are the Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings.

Guerin could look to move future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury before the deadline — that would require the goalie to waive his no-trade clause — but the 39-year-old is in the final year of his contract and might retire after the season.

Gustavsson, 25, has two years left on his contract after this one ($3.75 million AAV) and would command a more significant return. Gustavsson had a 3.19 goals-against average and .897 save percentage entering Monday’s game in Vegas. That’s a drop from last season, when Gustavsson had the second-best goals against (2.10) and save percentage (.931) in the NHL, but the team around him isn’t as good.

The Wild are facing one more season in salary cap hell because of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, and adding draft picks and prospects to a young talent pool that looks to have a bright future has to be considered an attractive option.

Jesper Wallstedt, the Wild’s top goalie prospect, is expected to get a chance to play on a regular basis next season, and Guerin could look to pair him with a veteran in 2024-25, if Gustavsson is moved.

Middleton was acquired from the San Jose Sharks at the trade deadline in 2022 and has turned into a very solid top-four defenseman. The 28-year-old is signed through next season and would command a big return.

The Wild have played catch-up in the playoff race seemingly all season. (MHM Photo / Jonathan Watkins)

Why should Guerin be a seller?
Just take a look at the NHL standings and you will have the answer.

The Wild’s 5-10-4 start under coach Dean Evason put them behind in the playoff race, but an 11-3 rebound under John Hynes provided new life. The Wild then went 1-7-1, had a three-game winning streak and proceeded to blow leads at home against Nashville and Anaheim.

Minnesota won back-to-back games against Chicago and Pittsburgh coming out of the All-Star break to get within three points of a playoff spot. But here’s where even a win streak doesn’t help that much. The Wild was off on Saturday and Sunday and dropped seven points out of the final wild card position while sitting at home.

There are too many points available to too many teams on a nightly basis to have two horrible stretches of hockey. For every step forward the Wild takes, it’s likely they will take two or three steps back.

Faber headed for Calder?
There appeared to be no way Wild defenseman Brock Faber had a chance to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of year before Jan. 5. That was the day that Blackhawks center Connor Bedard, the No. 1 pick last June in the NHL draft, suffered a fractured jaw against the New Jersey Devils.

Bedard, considered a generational talent, hasn’t played since and continues to wear a non-contact jersey when he skates. Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson told reporters this week that he hopes Bedard will be able to start practicing early next week and could be set for games shortly after that.

Brock Faber is near the top of the scoring leaderboard for NHL rookies, making his case for the Calder Trophy. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Bedard’s 15 goals in 39 games still leads all rookies, but Faber’s pair of assists in a 5-3 Wild victory in Vegas on Monday put him into a tie in points with Bedard, both with 33 points to lead NHL rookies. Faber’s 29 assists also top the rookie charts. Faber’s impact on the Wild has been even bigger than expected with Jared Spurgeon limited to only 16 games before he was shut down for the season.

Hynes trusts Faber in all situations — he didn’t play on the power play with the University of Minnesota, but quarterbacks the Wild’s top power play — and his average ice time of 24 minutes, 59 seconds per game leads the Wild and all rookies and is 10th in the NHL.

It’s worth noting the third-leading scorer among rookies is Wild center Marco Rossi with 29 points. Rossi’s 14 goals are second to Bedard.

There is always a chance Bedard will return and get hot, or that he will be recognized by so many of the writers who vote that he will get the honor. But Faber has deserved serious consideration all season and now he’s getting it.

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That play, however, is the exact reason Faber belongs in the conversation for the Calder Trophy as the NHL Rookie of the Year. It’s also the reason why coach Dean Evason and his successor, John Hynes, have not hesitated to use the 21-year-old Faber in any situation.

A refresher on what happened: With Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon out because of injury, Faber was in the midst of logging 2 minutes, 9 seconds of ice time in the 5-minute overtime, when he got caught in a puck battle behind his own net. This is where a mental error by an exhausted defenseman can bring a quick end to the game.

This came in a game where Faber was on the ice for a then-career high 30:08, a total that would have made Ryan Suter blush. But Faber didn’t make a mistake and made the play as if he was a Norris Trophy winner.

Hynes, coaching his eighth game at the time, marveled at what he had seen.

“He’s completely exhausted, but not only (gave) a second effort, he’s got the wherewithal to bump the puck back so we can gain possession and get a line change,” Hynes said. “I think if you look at just that one little component, that’s where we’ve been talking about not just his talent, but his mindset and mental ability to handle the minutes he has and situations he’s in.

The Wild prevailed with a 3-2 win in the shootout and had their latest reminder that a trade they likely didn’t want to make has worked out better than anyone could have expected.

Faber’s rights came to the Wild from the Los Angeles Kings, along with a 2022 first-round pick that was turned into standout left winger Liam Ohgren (Sweden), for the rights to restricted free agent Kevin Fiala on June 29, 2022.

Brock Faber has stepped in as a top defenseman with the void of Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin out with injuries. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Fiala had established himself as a valuable scorer in three-plus seasons with the Wild — 79 goals, including 21 on the power play, in 215 games — but the salary-cap strapped Wild weren’t going to be able to meet his asking price.

General manager Bill Guerin knew he had to move Fiala, but how was he going to get close to a quality return? Every GM he dealt with knew that Guerin wasn’t dealing from a position of strength.

Faber quickly adapted from college to pro hockey
Faber had been drafted by the Kings in the second round in 2020 before his first season with the Minnesota Gophers. A native of Maple Grove, Minn., Faber was a standout during his three seasons with the Gophers, but he has been nothing short of phenomenal since joining the Wild last spring after the Gophers suffered a shocking overtime loss in the NCAA championship game against Quinnipiac.

Faber signed with the Wild only hours after the defeat, played two regular-season games and was a regular on the blue line in a first-round playoff loss to Dallas. That was no small feat for a guy who had been playing college hockey only a few weeks earlier.

But what Faber has done this season is far more eye-opening – especially with Spurgeon and Brodin having been lost for extended periods. Brodin had been Faber’s defensive partner before suffering an upper body injury on Dec. 8 when he was checked into the boards behind his net by Edmonton’s Evander Kane.

Spurgeon (out with a lower body injury), the Wild’s captain, was lost for the second time this season only two days after Brodin was lost. Hynes put Faber with Spurgeon’s regular defensive partner, Jake Middleton. Faber also was made the quarterback on the top power-play unit. Both have been seamless transitions.

“Being a young defenseman in the league is probably the hardest position to come in and have the responsibilities that he has,” Hynes said. “He’s been really consistent, he’s got the physical ability to play the minutes and style of game that he plays. He’s got the mental maturity to handle it, be consistent in his play and also recognize the situations he’s in in the moments of the game. Those are usually big ones, hard matchups, a lot of minutes. He’s done a really good job. He’s been impressive.”

Faber, like most hockey players, isn’t about to pump his own tires.

“I feel like when I’m clicking, I’m using my feet, making smart decisions and I’m clean on breakouts,” Faber told reporters.

The expectation is that Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard will win the Calder. Bedard, the first pick of the draft last summer, headlines a hot-shot rookie class and led all rookie scorers entering Wednesday with 13 goals and 30 points in 33 games. He’s also a minus-15 in the plus-minus category playing for a bad team.

Faber entered Wednesday’s game against Detroit in a four-way tie for eighth in rookie scoring with two goals and 16 points and was a plus-10. Anyone who watches Faber on a nightly basis knows what a difference-maker he has been for a team that wouldn’t be 11-3, or turned its season around, under Hynes, if it wasn’t for the rookie.

National pundits have started noticing what Faber is doing and the minutes he is playing. He had been on the ice for more than 30 minutes in four of his past six games, entering Wednesday, and was 10th in the NHL in ice time (24:44). This included a season-high 33:25 in a 4-3 overtime win over Montreal on Dec. 21.

Hynes, who coached the New Jersey Devils for four-plus seasons and the Nashville Predators for three-plus seasons, was asked if he could compare a defenseman from his previous stops to Faber.

“Not as a young defensemen, in the way that he’s playing the game now, the role that he’s taken on,” Hynes said. “He doesn’t get sheltered. He plays against top lines, he plays hard minutes, he plays every situation.”

In other words, he’s the type of defenseman who is hard to find. Fiala, meanwhile, is second on a very good Kings team with 30 points (seven goals, 23 assists) in 31 games. The guess here is Guerin wouldn’t reverse the trade if given the opportunity.

Not with Faber looking like a guy who could be in the race for the Norris Trophy for years to come and the Calder Trophy this spring.

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