Brock Faber Takes Nothing for Granted

There is little about Brock Faber that screams ‘wide-eyed rookie’.

In fact there is more than a little ‘old soul’ vibe from the rookie defenseman who will be attending his first-ever NHL training camp as a member of the Minnesota Wild starting with the team’s first on-ice sessions set for Thursday.

Maybe that’s growing up a Minnesota kid.

Maybe it’s that he has experienced much for a 21-year-old including absorbing a crushing defeat in the NCAA national championship game last spring followed by a taste of NHL playoff action and that’s not to mention a trip to the 2022 Olympics as a member of Team USA.

Or maybe it’s just that the good ones always seem to have the ability to put aside the noise and the hype and keep their ego in check.

Regardless, for a young man from whom so much is expected this season for the Wild, Faber is taking nothing for granted as he prepares for his first NHL camp.

“To be honest I don’t really know what to expect. I don’t even have an itinerary yet so it’s kind of just get all my clothes together, put them in a bunch of bins and move into the hotel and work as hard as I can to make the team,” the native of Maple Grove, Minnesota said. “I’m really excited for it though. I’m excited to get going. Obviously there’s always going to be nerves at the start of every season but it’s mostly excitement on my end. Just fed up with summer hockey, I’m ready to get into the real stuff.”

You could hardly blame the young man if he had been a bit overwhelmed with the various twists and turns in his career arc over the past couple of years.

The 45^th overall pick in the 2020 draft by the Los Angeles Kings, Faber was acquired by the home-state Wild on June 29, 2022 for Kevin Fiala just a few months after Faber competed for Team USA in the Beijing Olympics. The Wild also received a 2022 first round pick which we used to select Liam Ohgren in the trade with the Kings for Kevin Fiala.

A year ago at this time his main focus was being the captain of the Gophers and his junior year studies. He was living in a house with a bunch of hockey pals. It was all pretty insular.

The Gopher season ended in heartbreak as they lost to Quinnipiac in overtime in the championship game in Tampa last April. One day later, Faber signed his first NHL contract with the Wild and even though he was still living with his pals – who were definitely in post-hockey season mode – Faber had suddenly transitioned from collegian to NHLer.

“I still see myself as just a normal 21-year-old kid. I just love working out, skating and bettering myself,” Faber said. “I love winning and I hate losing and that’s kind of just how I am. I’ve never been big on points or social media or accolades or anything like that. Frankly, it hasn’t changed one bit since I have signed. It’s obviously different but I would talk about that a lot with my coaches growing up and they would always preach: unselfish people make it to the next level. Good people make it to the next level. People who care more about the team make it to the next level. And that’s just all the way up and how I was raised. It hasn’t changed, it won’t change a thing about me. But obviously it’s playing in front of those big crowds. It’s special and you soak it all in as much as you can but at the same time just focus on what got you there and being yourself and not switching to someone in the public spotlight I guess. I feel like I’m the same kid.”

It became obvious after a few days following the signing that it made more sense for all concerned if Faber moved off campus and into a hotel in St. Paul provided by the team.

“Obviously it’s a bit different for my roommates. They were all hockey players but their season ended, our season ended, with the Gophers so they weren’t focusing on hockey much the week that I was playing the most important hockey of my life so that’s why I had to get out of there,” Faber said with a laugh.

Faber played in two regular season games and then all six games of the first round against Dallas. He made a game-saving play in overtime in Game 1 which the Wild would go on to win in double overtime and played with poise and discipline throughout the six-game series in spite of the high stakes.

By the end of the series fans, and more importantly coaches and management, were singing Faber’s praises and already anticipating what was next. And the fact is, all that has transpired in the past is merely a prelude to what is about to happen with and for the talented defenseman.

A long-time NHL player and executive reached out to say he was a huge Faber fan dating back to Faber’s time with the U.S. National Team Development Program.

“Good, smart pickup,” the executive said.

“He’s an impressive kid,” GM Bill Guerin said a day before training camp opened.

“We’re going to ask of him the same we asked of Matt Boldy and that’s to take a bigger role than maybe you would get otherwise,” Guerin said referencing another top collegiate star who made a rather seamless jump from college to impact NHL player.

“Yeah, we’re asking you to play above your years. But you know what? We wouldn’t ask if we didn’t think he could deliver,” Guerin said of the expectations for Faber. “I do think that sometimes these kids go to college and then they just grow up.  That’s one of the benefits that college does have is the time that they get and I think Brock is definitely maximized his experiences between playing at the U and the Olympics, things like that, to his benefit, to his betterment. He’s better for all of it and he’s learned. So he’s a very mature kid and humble. I think he can handle it.”

The widespread feeling is that Faber will get a shot to slide into the spot created by the departure of long-time Wild defender Matt Dumba who signed a one-year deal in Arizona playing the right side alongside veteran Jonas Brodin as a key member of the Wild’s top four defenders along with Matt Spurgeon and Jake Middleton.

Faber figures Brodin may be one of the most under-appreciated of NHL defensemen but if you’re expecting Faber to be assuming that any of this is a given, well, you’d be dead wrong.

“As soon as you’re satisfied or as soon as you expect something, that’s when it’s going to get taken from you,” Faber said. “I see myself obviously in that role. That’s what I worked for. That’s what I picture. But at the end of the day that’s earned, playing in the playoffs or not. I think some people assume that’s kind of, 'Well, he’s on the team next year if he played in the playoffs.' And that’s the furthest thing from the case. Again, everything’s earned. And I need to have a good camp. I need to build on what I ended with last year. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”

Faber is the youngest of three children. He has two older sisters.

His father is a salesman. His mother works for a mortgage company.

He loves to golf and shot a personal best 77 this summer. He and his father used to fish regularly at the family cabin near Cold Spring, Minnesota but he didn’t get to do as much fishing as he’d have liked this summer.

The family has a black lab named Snoop.

Faber rented a place this summer but the lease is up and he’ll be moving into the team hotel during camp because, until he gets the word that he can get a place from GM Bill Guerin or Head Coach Dean Evason, well, he’s like every other rookie trying to earn a roster spot on the team.

There’s a lot to unpack with all of this for Faber that in many ways makes him a unique case study.

He’s a kid from Minnesota who grew up a Wild fan. He starred for the local college team and now has a chance to make an impact with the local NHL franchise, a franchise hungry for playoff success and that long-awaited first Stanley Cup.

Too much?

For some, maybe. In fact Guerin admitted he has in the past shied away from drafting or acquiring young Minnesotans because sometimes the pressure can be a bit overwhelming.

“I used to not really do that. But to be quite honest, there’s too many good players from Minnesota to not be willing to take Minnesota players. But you have to get the right ones. The ones that can handle it,” Guerin said.

That means bringing in players that don’t just want to play at home but win at home.

“I know what Brock Faber and Sammy Walker want, and Vinni Lettieri. They want to win here. They want to be the guys that bring it here. And that to me is different.”

Certainly that prospect, the idea of bringing home a Stanley Cup, is something that burns brightly inside of Brock Faber, rookie or not.

“Being a Minnesota kid and playing at the University of Minnesota and now with the Minnesota Wild it’s obvious people from Minnesota love that. Fans. Even my friends and family and having them all so close, it is a whole lot different than it would be if I was in L.A.,” Faber said. “This is the State of Hockey and it’s the State of Hockey for a reason. It’s everything I could have imagined. But again all you think about is how happy would those fans be if you could bring back a Cup. That’s the main goal and that would be the coolest thing in the world, obviously. Yeah. it’s the State of Hockey. It’s special to be here and I’m so grateful for it.”

We’ll be touching base with Faber as he makes his way through training camp.