Article: Brock Faber Is the First Building Block Of Minnesota's New-Look Defense Corps

[Justin Hein]

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[Velgey]

Teams trading star players for picks and prospects rarely get full value. Especially when they have little leverage with which to work. That was definitely the case when Geurin traded Fiala. The Wild didn't have the cap room to sign him and it was a fairly open secret that Fiala had his heart set on Los Angeles. So full credit to Geurin for navigating that situation. And full credit to Faber for making Geurin look so good for acquiring him!

[MrCheatachu]

20 minutes ago, Velgey said:

Teams trading star players for picks and prospects rarely get full value. Especially when they have little leverage with which to work. That was definitely the case when Geurin traded Fiala. The Wild didn't have the cap room to sign him and it was a fairly open secret that Fiala had his heart set on Los Angeles. So full credit to Geurin for navigating that situation. And full credit to Faber for making Geurin look so good for acquiring him!

Let's pump the brakes a bit on a guy who's played less than 25 NHL games.  Don't get me wrong, I like what I've seen so far with him, but I'm going to wait until we get a larger sample size to evaluate the trade to get him here.

Also, lets remember how many people were underwhelmed at the return we got for Fiala when it was announced that Faber was what BG was after, and BG openly stated that he felt Faber/19th pick was fair value back

Quote

Bill Guerin said Kings counterpart Rob Blake stepped up to the plate right away. There was no tire kicking, no messing around, no leveraging other teams against each other. Blake made a good offer, one Guerin felt was fair value back.

A lot of people though that an 80 point player should get back more than a prospect (remember, we already had Addison in our prospect pool) and a late 1st.  

Regardless, I'm excited to see this team next season.  Brock is definitely one of the guys who needs to step up and fill in for the $14.7M country club fees we've elected to pay the next couple of years.

[Velgey]

37 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

Let's pump the brakes a bit on a guy who's played less than 25 NHL games. 

Sure, I guess if you want to be all rational about it...

Yes, it's a very small sample size with Faber. We can't assume the games he's played are a fair representation of how he'll ultimately turn out (just like it's too soon to make any final judgments on Rossi with only 19 games to go on).

But so far, so good. Given the circumstances of the trade, GMBG did well to get a prospect as promising as Faber. With luck, the final trade grade will be an "A" for the Wild - but you're right, it's going to be a bit before that call can actually be made.

[vonlonster67]

1 hour ago, MrCheatachu said:

Let's pump the brakes a bit on a guy who's played less than 25 NHL games.  Don't get me wrong, I like what I've seen so far with him, but I'm going to wait until we get a larger sample size to evaluate the trade to get him here.

Also, lets remember how many people were underwhelmed at the return we got for Fiala when it was announced that Faber was what BG was after, and BG openly stated that he felt Faber/19th pick was fair value back

A lot of people though that an 80 point player should get back more than a prospect (remember, we already had Addison in our prospect pool) and a late 1st.  

Regardless, I'm excited to see this team next season.  Brock is definitely one of the guys who needs to step up and fill in for the $14.7M country club fees we've elected to pay the next couple of years.

Pump the breaks on a cornerstone Dman who will be with the Wild after "FiFi"  gets sick of the the LA scene and his 13% tax on his salary. Good luck LA.   You forgot the most important part of this trade? Ohgren in the first round who you will see next year. 

I'll take these two over FiFi anyday! Remember Mr.Playoffs was absent on every shift when he was here. He can put up numbers during the regular season all day, but with his childish fits and penalties on the ice and me me attitude he was never gonna leave KK' shadow and he knew it and played like it.

[vonlonster67]

Great article Justin! I can't believe some Wild fans even question this kid. 

Everyone wants to see more or haven't bought in. Not sure if they were living under a rock while he was playing at the U on the National Stage and winning medals playing against elite talent on the World Stage.

Believe it Wild fans. 

[Skolwild]

11 minutes ago, vonlonster67 said:

Pump the breaks on a cornerstone Dman who will be with the Wild after "FiFi"  gets sick of the the LA scene and his 13% tax on his salary. Good luck LA.   You forgot the most important part of this trade? Ohgren in the first round who you will see next year. 

I'll take these two over FiFi anyday! Remember Mr.Playoffs was absent on every shift when he was here. He can put up numbers during the regular season all day, but with his childish fits and penalties on the ice and me me attitude he was never gonna leave KK' shadow and he knew it and played like it.

He had 6 points in 3 games played for LA this year. So probably not a good stat to keep pointing out as it was probably just a symptom of a young player learning the intensity change of the playoff. 
 

matt boldy had the same issues last year and found out for himself. Are we gonna write him off forever in the playoffs too? 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Skolwild

[vonlonster67]

4 minutes ago, Skolwild said:

He had 6 points in 3 games played for LA this year. So probably not a good stat to keep pointing out as it was probably just a symptom of a young player learning the intensity change of the playoff. 
 

matt boldy had the same issues last year and found out for himself. Are we gonna write him off forever in the playoffs too? 

Boldy doesn't have FiFi's personal baggage. I'll take Bolds all day and at his age not a good comparison.

 

[Skolwild]

19 minutes ago, vonlonster67 said:

Boldy doesn't have FiFi's personal baggage. I'll take Bolds all day and at his age not a good comparison.

 

Baggage doesn’t mean shit if you can score points at a rate like fiala does. He wasn’t moved out of here because of his attitude. He was moved because there was no way the wild could pay him. 
 

take Kirill out the equation and fiala was best thing the wild had since gaborik left. So I’m not sure why he’s trashed so hard by some because he has a little attitude to him. He’s a killer, much more so than most players to come through St. Paul in 23 years of existence. 
 

Faber looks good to this point in his limited time. Öhgren is promising. Fiala is a star. If the ceiling is reached by both players it’s a good trade. At the time of the trade they sold another player for nothing proven in return. Just like when the wild straight traded an established granlund for a guy with a lot of promise, it left you wanting more. Time will tell. 

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, vonlonster67 said:

 You forgot the most important part of this trade? Ohgren in the first round who you will see next year. 

Agree.  Even if Faber becomes the next Brodin, is 80+ pt forward for an elite shut down/no offense Dman a good trade.  I'd say absolutely not.  It's a great start but the Win/Loss on this trade comes down to what Ohgren becomes.  Is 80+ pt forward for 1) elite Dman + 2) Nino Niedereiter???  I'd say LA wins that scenario.  

So for me Ohgren has to become a power forward who can also create offense (more so than Nino.  Nino never really got over the hump IMO).

Faber + Blake Wheeler/Kevin Hayes/Reilly Smith > Fiala.  Advantage Wild

Love Fiala or hate Fiala his production speaks for itself.

[vonlonster67]

1 minute ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Agree.  Even if Faber becomes the next Brodin, is 80+ pt forward for an elite shut down/no offense Dman a good trade.  I'd say absolutely not.  It's a great start but the Win/Loss on this trade comes down to what Ohgren becomes.  Is 80+ pt forward for 1) elite Dman + 2) Nino Niedereiter???  I'd say LA wins that scenario.  

So for me Ohgren has to become a power forward who can also create offense (more so than Nino.  Nino never really got over the hump IMO).

Faber + Blake Wheeler/Kevin Hayes/Reilly Smith > Fiala.  Advantage Wild

Love Fiala or hate Fiala his production speaks for itself.

Agreed, but no Nino (the player we all love and hate depending on the night) swearing, speculation or damnation....I feel Öhgren has  shown thus far he will be more in the EEK mode, a net front presence, probably a better puck mover and stick work. Like EEK he will make others on his line and team a better player.

Fiala just never rang the bell for me and I don't see him as a long term option for any team. Say what you want about him like him or not he didn't fit the culture that we have here now.

No matter what we had... what we have right now I'm more excited for those pieces than putting Fiala in our group long term.

[MrCheatachu]

1 hour ago, vonlonster67 said:

Fiala just never rang the bell for me and I don't see him as a long term option for any team. Say what you want about him like him or not he didn't fit the culture that we have here now.

No matter what we had... what we have right now I'm more excited for those pieces than putting Fiala in our group long term.

Fiala's been over a point-per-game player the past two seasons.  As much shit as Guerin talked about him on KFAN, you can't pretend that production isnt real.

2 hours ago, vonlonster67 said:

Boldy doesn't have FiFi's personal baggage. I'll take Bolds all day and at his age not a good comparison.

What personal baggage did FiFi have?  Besides Guerin shitting all over the dude every second he got on KFAN, which was PRIOR to his trade while he was being shopped dude played some passionate hockey on the ice.

If you're referencing the stories from Friedman about his time at Nashville about being 'difficult to coach' and couple that with Dean's first experience for the dude being when they both were with the Milwaukee Admirals I could see how Dean could be annoyed by this young kid who didnt think he needed to buy into the program. But that's all hearsay and assumptions.

[vonlonster67]

40 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

Fiala's been over a point-per-game player the past two seasons.  As much shit as Guerin talked about him on KFAN, you can't pretend that production isnt real.

What personal baggage did FiFi have?  Besides Guerin shitting all over the dude every second he got on KFAN, which was PRIOR to his trade while he was being shopped dude played some passionate hockey on the ice.

If you're referencing the stories from Friedman about his time at Nashville about being 'difficult to coach' and couple that with Dean's first experience for the dude being when they both were with the Milwaukee Admirals I could see how Dean could be annoyed by this young kid who didnt think he needed to buy into the program. But that's all hearsay and assumptions.

Attitude, Attitude, Attitude, uncoachable and played to his own drum beat, not the Wild's culture with all his on ice hissy fits that cost us penalty minutes.

Addition by subtraction. Don't care about his points, he's not driving the bus in LA anywhere, just another of a bunch of talented dudes that haven't gone anywhere.

[Protec]

The Wild got a return for Fiala that is at least a young NHL player. Perhaps more. Given how between a rock and hard place the Wild were, I'm pretty okay with Faber. It looks like he becomes a top four right shot guy.

I agree we'd like to get an 80pt guy back for equal value and apples to apples analysis. Since it doesn't happen that way, I'm grateful Guerin got a quality return with upside. Not nothing like sometimes happened under previous management.

[Sviginak]

Bad mouthing the guy who left is always brought up now and then. Really no need to do it especially this early after the trade. Declaring prospects to be better than a star player could put unnecessary pressure on a young player if it is continually talked about. The guy we let go of is pretty damn good, the two kids we got back should be good.

[mnfaninnc]

11 hours ago, MrCheatachu said:

Also, lets remember how many people were underwhelmed at the return we got for Fiala when it was announced that Faber was what BG was after, and BG openly stated that he felt Faber/19th pick was fair value back

Quote

Bill Guerin said Kings counterpart Rob Blake stepped up to the plate right away. There was no tire kicking, no messing around, no leveraging other teams against each other. Blake made a good offer, one Guerin felt was fair value back.

A lot of people though that an 80 point player should get back more than a prospect (remember, we already had Addison in our prospect pool) and a late 1st.  

I was one of those who was very disappointed. I wanted a center in the mix. I also thought the general trade for this was Roster Player+1st Round Pick+Prospect. Perhaps Guerin didn't want the roster player because he was going to cost money, but I certainly felt like another prospect was in line. 

Of course, I knew little about Faber. Perhaps instead of the "prospect + roster player" we got a better prospect? But, I own up to it and was vocal about it.

[mnfaninnc]

10 hours ago, vonlonster67 said:

Great article Justin! I can't believe some Wild fans even question this kid. 

Everyone wants to see more or haven't bought in. Not sure if they were living under a rock while he was playing at the U on the National Stage and winning medals playing against elite talent on the World Stage.

Believe it Wild fans. 

It's a different perspective. I don't subscribe to the B1G network so I saw no games of Faber with the Gophers. I only got to watch the NCAA tournament on ESPN+. So, it's not being under a rock when you live in Tobacco Road and all you hear about college is basketball. 

That's why it's nice to have people in the community with eyes on Faber at the U and can let us out of market guys know he's legit. Almost all the information I got on him came from here and watching Elite Prospects tally his stats.

[mnfaninnc]

9 hours ago, Skolwild said:

Baggage doesn’t mean shit if you can score points at a rate like fiala does. He wasn’t moved out of here because of his attitude. He was moved because there was no way the wild could pay him. 

I agree baggage doesn't mean anything if you can score, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the money. I think Shooter could find the money. I believe Fiala was straight with Guerin and told him he didn't want to be here longterm. With his girlfriend/wife's career, LA or FL would have been the best place for both of them, and I believe that's why he chose to leave. MN isn't for everyone, especially a model. 

Sometimes, it's not all about the money!

[mnfaninnc]

The more I see what we got from this trade, the more it looks like a win-win. Rarely do you get those, so in that essence, those are the best trades!

Yes, Faber hasn't played a season yet. But, with the exception of injury, I'd say a playoff series where he held up like he did was a pretty good small sample. Justin mentions that Evason "protected" him by letting him play against lower lines. I don't think Evason was protecting Faber, he was trying to protect Klingberg who needed it. 

But, there were a couple of holes. Faber did put himself in some bad spots, but quickly recovered and retrieved the mistakes because of his excellent skating and balance. I also thought he deferred too much to his teammates, and will need to know when to be the man and take it. 

To me, I see his future partner as Carson Lambos, and I think the 2 will work great together. He's just a year ahead of Lambos in development. We've got a lot of blue line talent coming, it might be come this TDL where we just can't hold them back any longer.

[Skolwild]

6 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I agree baggage doesn't mean anything if you can score, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the money. I think Shooter could find the money. I believe Fiala was straight with Guerin and told him he didn't want to be here longterm. With his girlfriend/wife's career, LA or FL would have been the best place for both of them, and I believe that's why he chose to leave. MN isn't for everyone, especially a model. 

Sometimes, it's not all about the money!

Could be but it’s all speculation unless it comes from the horses mouth. Pretty sure fiala was an RFA for another year when traded fwiw. I just think they realized he was too big of an expense for the real contention curve of the team. They have kaprizov as the bigger star, who is above fiala for sure. They don’t need to pay two stars right now if their real window is 2-4 years out and fiala is a winger and not a center, which is more desired for this team. Paying fiala means not being in the game for someone like draisityl.  They have prospects that can fill the gaps at winger, especially if a couple centers like rossi or khusnutdinov shift to wing. Paying star wingers means not getting star centers. Even if Guerin says centers aren’t the end all, we all know he’s full of shit. 

[vonlonster67]

12 hours ago, Sviginak said:

Bad mouthing the guy who left is always brought up now and then. Really no need to do it especially this early after the trade. Declaring prospects to be better than a star player could put unnecessary pressure on a young player if it is continually talked about. The guy we let go of is pretty damn good, the two kids we got back should be good.

Your pretending and burying your head in the snow if you think Fiala's talent outweighs the culture of the team. It's hardly badmouthing, but calling out all his BS we saw on the ice most nights and his inconsistencies. How soon we forget.

These two including Faber are team oriented and live for pressure, give me more. Fiala is old news and his movement off this team and return was a brilliant move by BG

[vonlonster67]

9 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

The more I see what we got from this trade, the more it looks like a win-win. Rarely do you get those, so in that essence, those are the best trades!

Yes, Faber hasn't played a season yet. But, with the exception of injury, I'd say a playoff series where he held up like he did was a pretty good small sample. Justin mentions that Evason "protected" him by letting him play against lower lines. I don't think Evason was protecting Faber, he was trying to protect Klingberg who needed it. 

But, there were a couple of holes. Faber did put himself in some bad spots, but quickly recovered and retrieved the mistakes because of his excellent skating and balance. I also thought he deferred too much to his teammates, and will need to know when to be the man and take it. 

To me, I see his future partner as Carson Lambos, and I think the 2 will work great together. He's just a year ahead of Lambos in development. We've got a lot of blue line talent coming, it might be come this TDL where we just can't hold them back any longer.

That may be a good combo, and Faber fits with a lot of our upcoming D. Lambos and Hunt similar, but Lambos is more physical. Faber being an edge guy, vison, and hockey IQ make for good chemistry.

[Will D. Ness]

I'm not so sure about the trade myself being a good trade in terms of relative value.  

Having a somewhat known high end offensive talent in Fiala (granted it was a contract year) vs a late 1st rd pick plus Faber was pretty one sided for LA.  Fiala has helped turn that team around on a dime and has shown that he has actually turned a corner and it wasn't a contract year fluke.

Faber does look good but Ohgren is a complete question mark really.  Jury is still out  but as of right now the trade is squarely in LA's favor.  We should have gotten a little more value the day of the trade, and probably in hindsight even more now.

[mnfaninnc]

10 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

 We should have gotten a little more value the day of the trade, and probably in hindsight even more now.

Will D., what do you consider more value? Another prospect? Another draft pick? Even here, it seems that defenders who can keep the puck out of the net are undervalued when we've been watching Brodin do it so well. I was hoping for a center prospect as the Kings seemed to have a plethora of them. Who/what did you want?

As things look, this trade has 3 pieces in it: Faber, Ohgren and Yurov. If we don't take Ohgren at 19, we probably don't get Yurov a few picks later, so there is some fluency to the actual deal. 

[mnfaninnc]

11 hours ago, vonlonster67 said:

That may be a good combo, and Faber fits with a lot of our upcoming D. Lambos and Hunt similar, but Lambos is more physical. Faber being an edge guy, vison, and hockey IQ make for good chemistry.

And, they both have size. Not great size, but size.