2024-25 Season Spotlight: Brock Faber
The real deal
In a Minnesota Wild season defined by offensive explosion, Brock Faber’s all-around refinements have gone largely unnoticed.
However, avoiding the sophomore slump has been just as important to the injury-ravaged league leaders. The second-year blueliner’s performances are outshining those of his Calder-worthy campaign, and in the process, he’s cemented his status as a 1D and earned a coveted spot on Team USA’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster.
Here’s how.
Gap Control
There’s a reason the Oilers keep knocking the Kings out of the postseason: Merely hoping to survive is not a viable strategy against today’s forwards. With their speed and skill, they’ll barrel right through any shell you present.
Rather than a wing and a prayer, you need to push back.
That’s why Faber is the quintessential modern defender. A 6’1”, 200-pound RD whose top speed ranks in the 95th percentile, the 22-year-old has little interest in staying home. He drags Minnesota’s blue line way up the ice to challenge puck-carriers early in transition, consuming their breathing room before the offense has a chance to take root:
L.A.’s 2020 second-round pick is indeed a brilliant skater, but he’s becoming a more efficient one too. He told reporters as much at the beginning of the season:
“I think I can get by skating 75 percent the majority of the game and not having to go all out every single time I'm on the ice. Efficiency is I think probably the most important attribute I have in my skating.”
Whereas Faber occasionally scrambled himself into trouble as a rookie, chasing the puck to and fro, he’s handling the gas with greater precision in 2024-25. The burner is “doing” less—only flooring it when necessary. Whether he’s slicing across the NZ to guide forwards into a dead end or sitting in his backskate waiting to spring his trap, he’s displaying the sound judgment and superb balance required to harness his open-ice arsenal.
In off-puck scenarios, Faber identifies the target and leaps into their hip pocket in a flash. If you try to catch and scan, he’s already in your grill. On the puck, he lulls opponents into a false sense of security and then cuts a sharp angle to walk them into their cage (i.e. the wall).
Thanks to his control and burst, he applies pressure while denying any thought of a cutback:
Peyton Krebs (BUF 19) recovers the puck to launch a 3-on-2. Instead of battening down the hatches, Faber crosses over to LD Jake Middleton’s (MIN 5) side and meets the Sabres forward before he’s vacated Buffalo’s DZ.
Pay attention to how he adjusts the throttle. Krebs knows full well that he can’t outrace Faber, but the defenseman’s stance switches (opening/closing his hips) and stick positioning discourage a pass into middle ice. In other words, he ensures that Buffalo can neither make progress inside nor outside. As a bonus, planting a seed of doubt grants Joel Eriksson Ek (MIN 14) time to gain ground in pursuit.
Beautiful stuff.
Now for some off-puck action:
As Wyatt Kaiser (CHI 44) receives a breakout pass, Faber is outnumbered on the right flank. However, he senses that Matt Boldy (MIN 12) has the depth to assist in center ice. Consequently, he crowds the potential pass recipient (Tyler Bertuzzi, CHI 59) and funnels Kaiser into Boldy’s grasp.
Many rearguards would concede that territory and let this rush play out. Faber aims to extinguish the danger immediately.
Oh, you think chipping and chasing is the solution? Think again:
Remember that bit about his balance? Here it is on full display. After forcing a loose puck on entry, you’d expect a D-man to stall the F1 in order for their partner to retrieve the biscuit. Faber boasts the gifts to do it all himself, standing up at the blue line, maintaining enough momentum to run Zachary L’Heureux (NSH 68) off the road and grabbing the puck below the goal line to start Minnesota’s transition.
No matter how you choose to proceed, Faber has the tools to build a brick wall. And with a meat-and-potatoes veteran (Middleton) behind him, he enjoys the freedom to press up as he sees fit. This tack is working wonders:
On the strength of his fearless NZ posture, simply navigating past the first wave of Minnesota’s defense is an ordeal in itself.
In-Zone Defense
If you were banking on Faber dialing things back once the play settles in the DZ, you’re in for a rude awakening. He couples his aggressive nature with fast-twitch tics to cordon off the guts of the ice. He might play long as an initial deterrent, shorten his grip to shut his triangle, slide his skates into the frame, catch up out of nowhere from a trailing position, etc.
Confronted with ever-changing obstacles bearing down on them, forwards suffer from paralysis by analysis. Do I have time? Is that lane really available? Is he baiting me?
In addition, he remains on his toes amid each flurry of activity. Some blueliners might be fooled by an odd carom or swift follow-up. He’s prepared to defend in phase after phase all over the DZ. He’s consistently locked in, so his counterparts are consistently locked up:
Faber’s trust in his wheels and intuition enable him to make bold choices, exerting pressure when the vast majority of defenders would sag off. Not a trace of apprehension or passivity.
As a result, the space you anticipate doesn’t exist:
On this Ducks odd-man rush, Faber capitalizes on a sluggish first pass to drive the recipient (Brett Leason, ANA 20) outside the dot lane. While this seems overzealous against a 6’5” forward—and he does give up a half-step—his powerful skating and clever stick work help him prevent the Ducks from attempting a shot. Leason just isn’t ready for the preemptive strike.
You can’t always jump offenses in that manner, of course. Assuming shooters manage to reach their platform, they’ve still got a ways to go before testing Minnesota’s goaltender. Faber’s inside-out stick discipline thwarts bids on a nightly basis:
Oftentimes, he won’t even let you rip pucks from mediocre locations. He takes middle ice off the table, then foils your Plan B.
Faber is obviously plenty disruptive 1-on-1. What makes him so formidable, though, is a Drew Doughty-esque knack for cleaning up others’ messes on top of his own duties. He jostles with his assignment while one eye remains fixed on the bigger picture, diagnosing and dashing the most urgent threat—regardless of whose job it is on paper.
Here’s a prime example of his DZ malleability:
Off a lost draw, Faber dukes it out with Nils Hoglander (VAN 21) in front of the crease, breaking the winger’s posture to eliminate the risk of a deflection while blocking Vancouver’s point shot. Unfortunately, Kiefer Sherwood (VAN 44) dips past Middleton to recover the stray puck.
Such bounces—where an error wasn’t actually committed—are the bane of a defense’s existence. Despite Hoglander’s stick digging into his midsection, Faber clocks Sherwood’s presence and contests the pickup. As Sherwood resets and Middleton swaps his coverage to Hoglander, Faber realizes that he can vacate the slot to close the gap. One shuffle forward, stick on puck.
In the span of seven seconds, he repels the Canucks on three separate occasions before the Wild regain possession.
It truly does feel like he’s everywhere at times, casting a wide net with his pace and work rate rather than his size. Combined with Middleton’s steadiness and Filip Gustavsson’s resurgence between the pipes (2nd in GSAA/60), Minnesota’s top pairing has yielded virtually nothing in the team’s toughest minutes:
Is Faber as surgical as teammate and fellow defensive maven Jonas Brodin? Maybe not, but what he lacks in polish, he makes up for in volume. He throws the kitchen sink at opponents game in and game out, at every level of the DZ. It’s almost like he puts you on the defensive, shifting your focus from manufacturing scoring chances to surviving his blitzes.
Mounting an attack is no easy task when you’re pinned on your heels.
NZ Activation
Faber’s cup of coffee with the big club in 2022-23 hinted at world-class defense. His involvement on the offensive side of the equation wasn’t as apparent at the time, yet he’s blossoming into quite a valuable asset in transition.
With that said, his contributions are predicated on numbers and tempo. Not so much puck play. On retrievals and in possession, his execution is basic if not a tad sloppy (especially along the wall). What he does offer is a surge from the back end that adds an extra target on the breakout.
With an abundance of viable options, Minnesota can flip from defense to offense in total comfort:
It’s worth noting that Faber is calculated in transition. He’s ultimately a defense-first player who will only scream out of the gates when he detects an edge. If he there’s a turnover risk or the numbers aren’t favorable, he’ll stand pat. If he counts two-plus forwards deep, he’s gone.
That blistering pace might translate to a rush opportunity now and again:
Two Sabres forwards start this sequence below the goal line. Buffalo’s F3 (Dylan Cozens, BUF 24) pinches down too instead of retreating to the NZ. That’s the signal Faber is seeking, so he tears up the ice and converts some nifty link-up passing into a slot wrister. Take note of the race between Zach Benson (BUF 9) and Faber. The defenseman opts for a serpentine route compared to the forward’s straight line, and he absolutely dusts him anyway.
Such Grade A chances are the exceptions. More often than not, his efforts in transition amount to easier zone entries for the Wild. He’s more of a table-setter than an out-and-out game-breaker.
Kirill Kaprizov (MIN 97) benefited from his weak-side support on Dec. 10:
As F2 Alex Kerfoot (UTA 15) diverts his attention to Boldy, Faber advances to balance the scales (3-on-3). Since he believes he can gain more width than F3 Kevin Stenlund (UTA 82), he zips from the left dot lane to the right, which provides Kaprizov with a lateral path to OZ possession.
Later in the contest, we get a more spacious entry:
Upon accepting an outlet feed on the boards, Kaprizov is swarmed by a pair of bodies (UTA 27 and 8). Understandable given the Russian’s abilities. To Utah’s dismay, Faber shakes off Clayton Keller (UTA 9) below the goal line and barrels north to receive an admittedly genius spin pass in stride. There isn’t a defender within 15 feet of him.
This is the X-factor in his game.
He doesn’t always force the issue, typically reserving his rushes for comeback attempts or telling moments in tight contests (another Doughty trait). Growing comfortable with making defenses uncomfortable could raise the bar once more because when it’s go time, good luck catching him.
A couple of years ago, Minnesota would have been pleased with a top-four defenseman in exchange for Kevin Fiala. That prospect has turned into a 40-point workhorse 1D (9th in average TOI)—and we haven’t even glimpsed the 22-year-old’s final form.
Should he polish his puck play somewhere down the line, the Wild could be looking at a 60-point shutdown artist.