Article: It's Brock Faber's Defense Right Now

[Tony Abbott]

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[MNCountryLife]

No argument here.  He seems to make all the right decisions and play fast decisive hockey.  He's a gem.  Let him eat minutes... he will only get better and he is already rock solid.

[Outskated]

Tremendous 'kid' and hockey player, we are lucky to have him! If Ohgren can develop into a top 6 player someday that is going to be a pretty awesome trade in our favor.  

[Pewterschmidt]

20 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

No argument here.  He seems to make all the right decisions and play fast decisive hockey.  He's a gem.  Let him eat minutes... he will only get better and he is already rock solid.

Brock solid?

[Greenbean]

Faber reminds me of how good brodin looked when he first got his chance.

Once Spurgeon comes back, put him with Middleton again, put Brodin with Addison, and Faber with either Merril, Mermis, or Goligoski. Just my thought. That could really balance out the weaknesses of some players, and every D line has a rock solid defender on it. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

20 minutes ago, Greenbean said:

Once Spurgeon comes back, put him with Middleton again, put Brodin with Addison, and Faber with either Merril, Mermis, or Goligoski. Just my thought. That could really balance out the weaknesses of some players, and every D line has a rock solid defender on it. 

I wonder if they would consider that for road games only, when Evason cannot control the matchups. At home, you likely want 2 strong defenders against the opposition's top line when you can control that, but perhaps it makes some sense to stagger the talent more on the road.

The major issue it presents is that they only want Addison on the ice for maybe 10 minutes of even strength hockey per night, so whoever you pair with him is going to get fewer minutes unless you shuffle lines during the game to get more shifts for his linemate. It complicates things. When Merrill is with Addison, they can limit that line's time even strength and simply give Addison the power play time.

The top 2 pairings can play around 22 minutes per night, leaving about 10-12 minutes for Merrill/Addison even strength and 4-6 PP minutes for Addison.

[Luke Sims]

In xGA/60, Brock Faber is second in the league at 1.43. It's only been three games this season, but Brock has looked exceptional.  

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Faber has had a very strong start to his NHL career!

Between 5 regular season games, and 6 playoff hockey games, he has tallied roughly 196.7 minutes of ice time.  In that time, the ONLY goal allowed while he has been on the ice is a powerplay goal against.

Adding up his SH metrics, it appears he has been on the ice for 15.9 short handed minutes, so roughly an 87.5% kill rate(or better). Zero goals for have been scored for the Wild while he's been on the PK, but I imagine that will change one of these days.

Faber has about 1 career minute on the power play with zero goals so far.

In the time Faber has played away from the PK or PP units, roughly 180 minutes across 11 games, the Wild have outscored opponents 9-0.

[Dango]

Sure every blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while , Aka a loose puck finds the net now and then

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, Greenbean said:

Faber reminds me of how good brodin looked when he first got his chance.

Once Spurgeon comes back, put him with Middleton again, put Brodin with Addison, and Faber with either Merril, Mermis, or Goligoski. Just my thought. That could really balance out the weaknesses of some players, and every D line has a rock solid defender on it. 

I'm thinking Lambos gets called up and that's a future partnership right there. Both can skate, both have at least upper middleweight size, both can move the puck. That would be a real nice pair.

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

The major issue it presents is that they only want Addison on the ice for maybe 10 minutes of even strength hockey per night, so whoever you pair with him is going to get fewer minutes unless you shuffle lines during the game to get more shifts for his linemate. It complicates things. When Merrill is with Addison, they can limit that line's time even strength and simply give Addison the power play time.

This is precisely what I think they will do. Role the defenders for the 1st 2 periods, make sure there is at least 1 good defender out there at a time. If you're defending the lead, then, in the 3rd, it comes down to Middleton-Spurgeon and Brodin-Faber. If Lambos is still here, perhaps he gets time, but essentially, Merrill is there in case of PK and Addison in case of PP. 

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Faber has about 1 career minute on the power play with zero goals so far.

geesh. I would have expected 2 goals by then! 😜

[Wild4Ever]

Faber is coming along just fine. To say this is Faber's defense is ludicrous.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Quote

Wild call up Sammy Walker, place Alex Goligoski on LTIR

--The Athletic

[Sviginak]

10 minutes ago, Wild4Ever said:

Faber is coming along just fine. To say this is Faber's defense is ludicrous.

The moment must have gotten away from Tony. 🙂 If he keeps up the good play and pairs it with some scoring we should start to hear Calder whispering….

[Protec]

Norman Brockwell paints a colorful, yet subtle, classic, nostalgic picture of how you play defense for the Minnesota Wild.

[AKwildkraken]

Kid Brock has already surpassed Dumba in all around play in my opinion, and that's no a cut on Dumba.  (I know Dumba doesn't  play in Minnesota any longer, but for comparison). I might even say he's been better than Brodin.  

I'd like to see how he would do on the power play at some point.  Not sure he's ready for that yet, but I wouldn't be surprised after half the season he will be ready to take that step.  

I'm starting to think he's going to be are best defenseman for a long time.  He might be the stud defenseman we've been looking for to anchor the back end.  

Also, I like to add Faber Fabe as another nickname for him.

[Protec]

1 hour ago, AKwildkraken said:

Kid Brock has already surpassed Dumba in all around play in my opinion, and that's no a cut on Dumba.  (I know Dumba doesn't  play in Minnesota any longer, but for comparison). I might even say he's been better than Brodin.  

I'd like to see how he would do on the power play at some point.  Not sure he's ready for that yet, but I wouldn't be surprised after half the season he will be ready to take that step.  

I'm starting to think he's going to be are best defenseman for a long time.  He might be the stud defenseman we've been looking for to anchor the back end.  

Also, I like to add Faber Fabe as another nickname for him.

"Where you at Brock? Where you at?"

"Over here to the rear with your girl and the 40 of beer."

"Where you at Brock? Where you at?"

"Over there with a bad attitude cause I just don't care."

[B1GKappa97]

I remember when we felt we didn't get enough in the Fiala trade. Turns out Billy Guerin might have had some clue what he was doing after all. 

And it let us gamble on Yurov. If he and Ohgren turn out to live up to their mid-lineup hype, we're looking at getting potentially two top-6 players and a shutdown top-4 defenseman for Kevin Fiala.. while saving cap space?! 

Excited to continue watching this guy grow into his game. 

[mnfaninnc]

There was a quote early on last season, I think it came from Guerin, saying that Brock Faber could play in the NHL right now. Of course, there is a difference in playing in the NHL and playing top pairing D in the NHL.

It has been my belief all along that Fiala had let Guerin know that he was not resigning here longterm. That information, of course, would never get out in the public. Fiala, I believe stated that he wanted to go to a warm climate, either CA or FL. Guerin had little room for negotiation and a very small window in which to trade the player. But, I believe he also had about a year to scout the teams.

Obviously, having Faber in our backyard was a bonus. I would think the Kings likely told Guerin who was untouchable within their prospect pool. I also believe that Guerin had a better understanding than Kings management about just how good Faber really was, since they watched him pretty often.

We have quite a number of very successful college hockey programs within our state. If we draft a player, I have no idea why the organization does not insist on the player attending one of the close by universities. They have excellent coaching and are close by for 1) the organization to keep an eye on, and 2) to attend all of the prospect/development camps the organization puts on. 

It doesn't have to be the UoM where they play, UND is close enough. But UMD, SCSU, MSU and UW are all so close by, and I probably left one out. Hockey East is an excellent conference, but due to NCAA rules, their proximity is a hindrance to developing the players. 

Faber is an excellent example of keeping track of a kid in a local market. They knew, KNEW what they had in him. He gained opportunity because of this. They didn't really know what they had in Boldy. They weren't sure what they had in McBain. Put those players in this market and they may not have even had to sniff the A before coming. 

The scouts know, but they cannot always have the FO brass come watch with them like they could with Faber. And, when they made the trade for him, they already KNEW what he could become. They really took advantage of proximity as the Kings just didn't know what they had. 

So, how much does the Wild actually KNOW about Knies, Cooley, Snuggerud, and will they KNOW about Oliver Moore? I am certain they will KNOW a tremendous amount about Charlie Stramel. I also believe that Aaron Pionk and Jimmy Clark will have an advantage over some of the other prospects due to being seen. 

I haven't listed everyone, but you already get the logic. 

[Velgey]

Quote

Three games into the season is a bit early to make any conclusions, but let's have fun anyway.

Yes, too soon to reach any conclusions, but if Faber is going to work out to be a top pairing defenseman, then we'd want to see exactly what he's been doing so far. 

18 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

19 hours ago, Greenbean said:

Once Spurgeon comes back, put him with Middleton again, put Brodin with Addison, and Faber with either Merril, Mermis, or Goligoski. Just my thought. That could really balance out the weaknesses of some players, and every D line has a rock solid defender on it. 

I wonder if they would consider that for road games only, when Evason cannot control the matchups. At home, you likely want 2 strong defenders against the opposition's top line when you can control that, but perhaps it makes some sense to stagger the talent more on the road.

These deployment ideas (solid D-man on each pair on the road, ultimate shutdown pair of Brodin-Faber at home) sound great to me. If Faber keeps up the great work, then he and Brodin are going to become the stuff of nightmares for visiting teams.

[bjvcampbell]

I know how much my friend Tony values young RS Dmen, so this article shall not be taken lightly.  It's a big tell that this article didn't even mention Dumba.

[Protec]

Brodin, Faber, and Spurgeon are currently top best guys. It's good to have the size, grit, and experience of Merrill, Middleton, and Goligoski but they're the weaker half of the group  of doubt. 

The group coming up with Lambos, Hunt, Masters, Spacek is gonna be important because Addison is still a work in progress and Spurgeon isn't getting any younger. There's some good players to move up but how quickly and does it cover all the needs on the back end for power, length, skating, offense, etc. MN had been known for solid defense but can they keep that reputation? So far, so good I suppose. Without Dumba and with Spurgeon out, the Wild look a little less certain. That's not what you'd wanna see if the playoffs are coming up. Geurin probably already taking notes.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

I really don't get where the Addison hate is coming from here. Brett Marshall does a nice PCS summary after every game giving goal share, Corsi and other top notch stats. Addison has been second every game behind Faber. He's blowing possession numbers out of the water and is only -1 the same as Merrill, Rossi, Maroon and better than Kap, Zucc, Goli, Middleton and Hartman. 

His TOI hasn't been sheltered at 17:27 ATOI. He has zero giveaways and one takeaway. He is not king of hits but anyone expecting him to be has not been paying attention. In my opinion Merrill has been the biggest sore spot on our regular defense, frequently out of place and half the time doesn't remember gapping. Addison has lost battles, sure, but has at least been battling and winning some of them to boot. 

[mnfaninnc]

17 hours ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

I really don't get where the Addison hate is coming from here. Brett Marshall does a nice PCS summary after every game giving goal share, Corsi and other top notch stats. Addison has been second every game behind Faber. He's blowing possession numbers out of the water and is only -1 the same as Merrill, Rossi, Maroon and better than Kap, Zucc, Goli, Middleton and Hartman. 

His TOI hasn't been sheltered at 17:27 ATOI. He has zero giveaways and one takeaway. He is not king of hits but anyone expecting him to be has not been paying attention. In my opinion Merrill has been the biggest sore spot on our regular defense, frequently out of place and half the time doesn't remember gapping. Addison has lost battles, sure, but has at least been battling and winning some of them to boot. 

To me, the stats don't line up with the eye test, it's that simple. However, I will acknowledge that Merrill, Goligoski, and Mermis have looked worse. Middleton is really fighting it right now puck luck wise. Brodin and Faber have clearly been better. 

I suppose you wrote this prior to last night's game where Addison off his 1st shift carelessly tossed a cross ice pass to his partner which was a little off target and picked off by a King. He had a few brutal pass plays in his own end. I'll pick on him about hits, but I don't expect him to get many. I do, however, expect him to get in the way and physically not let someone skate right through him (something he has improved on this season). 

We have 2 very young defenders in Faber and Addison. Take a look at the details Faber has in his game, how he shifts into position, how he comes back strong after not being able to hold a puck in the zone, how he cuts off angles. You do not see this in Addison's game at all. To simply call him young and inexperienced isn't an excuse anymore. He does not have the instincts to do it, and, to me, based upon past experience, he doesn't seem to want to learn them either. 

I was patient with Rossi, mainly because of the myocarditis. I'm willing to give Addison a chance to see if there's improvement, but I've got to be honest. After 2 periods last night, I was very discouraged about Addison's effort, and thought he took steps backward. Perhaps he is simply not ready to play defensively against powerhouses like the Maple Leafs or Kings?

When it came to the PP last night, he fired a few shots and made a few passes, but once again unit 1 came up empty, especially when they needed one. If that's your calling card, you've got to convert.