Article: Is Brock Faber Leading the Calder Race?

[Thomas Williams]

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[mnfaninnc]

Ryan Reaves had the big personality that Guerin wanted in the locker room. Looks like personality doesn't help you stay on your feet! Of course, Reaves didn't even feel someone next to him and wasn't fast enough to pull away.

Guerin did well not resigning him to 3 years as I'm sure Toronto now regrets. But, for the Guerin haters, does he get any credit for this? Probably not.

In other news, I took a look at the jr. prospects teams today. Looks like all of our prospects are solidly in the playoff picture for major jrs. This should be starting up pretty soon. 

Heidt is still slumping, and Haight, Kumpulainen, Petrovsky are treading water around the ppg. Kalem Parker is having a decent season on D, but needs to improve again next season.

Nothing new in the K.

In the A, Sammy Walker is on fire. I do believe this is interesting as last season he got off to the big start and then faded down the stretch. Looks like he reversed that this season, and is playing his best hockey now. Baby Wild need a long win streak to get back in the playoff picture. Of course that probably starts with a few more bricks in The Wall.

 

[Citizen Strife]

Faber should, but there's still 30 games to play.  If the Wild make the playoffs, and Faber meets or exceeds Bedard in points (which still seems unlikely), he's a shoo-in.

[mnfaninnc]

With the Bedard-Faber debate, it is going to be a very interesting look at the numbers. Both will likely lead in the categories they are good at and the categories their position dictates. 

So, I'll concede that Bedard takes the goals and points category. But, I think Faber will take the TOI, +/-, and all of the variable defensive stats. Some sportswriters will only look at the points section to make their conclusion. Others may actually debate the usefulness to a team and use Faber's stats. 

Should it boil down to the team standings? One could argue that Faber's abilities led to more victories. He also held together a very vulnerable defense, becoming a #1 pairing, and filling in for a borderline elite defender in Spurgeon. Does it help Faber's cause that Chicago is a tremendously poor team? Could head to head battles where Bedard faces Faber on the ice play a part? 

Chicago is not a must see team. Neither are the Wild. It would appear as if there is a lack of East Coast bias here, but their may be large market bias. In the end, does anyone really care about awards outside of the Stanley Cup? 

How much have people been watching Faber? He's had some national games. How about Bedard? Well, nobody's been watching him for at least 6 weeks! People tend to look at what have you done lately, and I trust most sportswriters to have a very limited knowledge of both players except for if they're in the local markets. 

Bottom line is, Russo and Smith have to be banging the table for Faber wherever they go on the road. Faber is not a household name outside of our market. People will be asking about the Thrill, not Faber, so Russo and Smith have to keep bringing him up. 

[Willy the poor boy]

48 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Guerin did well not resigning him to 3 years as I'm sure Toronto now regrets. But, for the Guerin haters, does he get any credit for this? Probably not.

He doesn't get credit with me. He tried to sign him, which I was against because it was obvious he wasn't the player he once was, but Guerin still tried to sign him. Why didn't he see what most of us saw? The only reason he isn't with the team was they couldn't agree on the term, whether that was length or dollars or both. Bottom line was he wanted him on the team. It would have been just another Guerin mistake.

[raithis]

2 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

He doesn't get credit with me. He tried to sign him, which I was against because it was obvious he wasn't the player he once was, but Guerin still tried to sign him. Why didn't he see what most of us saw? The only reason he isn't with the team was they couldn't agree on the term, whether that was length or dollars or both. Bottom line was he wanted him on the team. It would have been just another Guerin mistake.

So what if he tried to sign him.  The point is, he drew a line and said no since it would be past that line.

You always have to draw a line.  If for instance Kaprizov won't sign a new contract for less than $18M, you can't say yes.

I don't fault Guerin for trying to re-sign Reaves even though I'm glad he didn't re-sign.  If he had signed him to the deal Reaves wanted, I would have had a huge problem with it.  I would have had less of a problem if it was a 1yr cheap contract provided that Reaves actually was more a force on the ice.  Reaves' reputation as a force is worth a little bit (not a lot and not for long), but it's worth nothing if he's only running his mouth.

[Willy the poor boy]

9 minutes ago, raithis said:

So what if he tried to sign him.  The point is, he drew a line and said no since it would be past that line.

You always have to draw a line.  If for instance Kaprizov won't sign a new contract for less than $18M, you can't say yes.

I don't fault Guerin for trying to re-sign Reaves even though I'm glad he didn't re-sign.  If he had signed him to the deal Reaves wanted, I would have had a huge problem with it.  I would have had less of a problem if it was a 1yr cheap contract provided that Reaves actually was more a force on the ice.  Reaves' reputation as a force is worth a little bit (not a lot and not for long), but it's worth nothing if he's only running his mouth.

The reason it makes a difference is exactly what you said. He didn't do what he was brought in to do. Why would you want to resign him if he's not doing what you brought him in to do? The team is better off with Maroon even though he really isn't doing what he was brought in to do either.

[FredJohnson]

The Fiala trade looking pretty good for us.

[RoseauRams797]

I think the NHL wants to promote Bedard and he is more likely to win if he returns and puts up numbers. They only look at the offense and the (+ -) tells a story that Faber has been a better player. Let's get Mason Shaw up here to help Brock kill penalties and I bet his (+ -) gets even better. 

[mnfaninnc]

Oddly, Fiala is taking penalties this season, on for his highest annual total. He also has 43 points which is pretty good. 

We got Faber out of the trade which is also pretty good, and it can't be stressed hard enough that in the deal we also got cap relief.

In other news, last night Winnipeg beat San Jose 1-0. One unlucky player on the ice was Calen Addison, chalking up another - game as he returned to playing. Has the kid peaked? He's been outscored by Zach Bogosian this season.

What do we do with this Wild team? They win again and once again are in striking distance of the 2 WC spots. I've also got to say, how does Joel Eriksson Ek not have a permanent letter on his jersey? This guy backs it up every night playing hard all game long. Maybe he doesn't need a letter? Maybe he just needs to challenge the team to get their butts in gear?

I noticed a bit of a tweak on our PP. It appears that the concept of moving your feet has been emphasized. We are now chasing down loose pucks and making subtle moves around the zone to open up passing/shooting lanes. I like it.

Did anyone catch Faber taking the body to Bjugstad in the 2nd period last night? He completely smothered him and canceled him out. His frame had leverage against the taller player. This is why I'd like to see him add a little strength/weight to the frame, just so he has this play in his bag when a stronger wing needs canceling out. Like Brodin, though, his stick, foot quickness and ability to defend off of players is his best asset.

Boldy had another game where he was willing to take the puck to the net. When he does this he is incredibly difficult to defend. I believe the kid has quite a bit of untapped potential and this is one huge area of improvement. It's like he grew and is big now, but still sees himself as small. He needs to change that perception of himself, he can go pretty much anywhere on the ice he wants to. 

I found it interesting that once AZ pulled their goalie, Heinzy decided to start with Hartman-Ek-Kaprizov at forward. Was he trying to get Kaprizov an ENG? Or, was giving Kaprizov some defensive responsibility part of his development? I truly wonder what Kaprizov would look like on the PK? He would add an offensive element that might be quite entertaining.

I've started to get the feeling that there is some animosity between the Wild and McBain. It seems to be deeper than an organization that he used to belong to. I haven't watched enough of him away from the Wild to understand if he just plays this way against everyone. We sure could have used a big frame like that playing center for us in a depth position. I wonder why he decided he didn't want to sign with us, if there was something else besides having to start in the A?

Edited February 15 by mnfaninnc

[Protec]

Faber replacing a Fiala roster spot without much more than a season apart for way less money but an equally important role is pretty good. When you consider Fiala was probably not gonna sign, was going to cost a premium, and didn't standout in the playoffs for MN, it is an awesome trade.

[Up North Guy]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Oddly, Fiala is taking penalties this season, on for his highest annual total. He also has 43 points which is pretty good. 

We got Faber out of the trade which is also pretty good, and it can't be stressed hard enough that in the deal we also got cap relief.

In other news, last night Winnipeg beat San Jose 1-0. One unlucky player on the ice was Calen Addison, chalking up another - game as he returned to playing. Has the kid peaked? He's been outscored by Zach Bogosian this season.

What do we do with this Wild team? They win again and once again are in striking distance of the 2 WC spots. I've also got to say, how does Joel Eriksson Ek not have a permanent letter on his jersey? This guy backs it up every night playing hard all game long. Maybe he doesn't need a letter? Maybe he just needs to challenge the team to get their butts in gear?

I noticed a bit of a tweak on our PP. It appears that the concept of moving your feet has been emphasized. We are now chasing down loose pucks and making subtle moves around the zone to open up passing/shooting lanes. I like it.

Did anyone catch Faber taking the body to Bjugstad in the 2nd period last night? He completely smothered him and canceled him out. His frame had leverage against the taller player. This is why I'd like to see him add a little strength/weight to the frame, just so he has this play in his bag when a stronger wing needs canceling out. Like Brodin, though, his stick, foot quickness and ability to defend off of players is his best asset.

Boldy had another game where he was willing to take the puck to the net. When he does this he is incredibly difficult to defend. I believe the kid has quite a bit of untapped potential and this is one huge area of improvement. It's like he grew and is big now, but still sees himself as small. He needs to change that perception of himself, he can go pretty much anywhere on the ice he wants to. 

I found it interesting that once AZ pulled their goalie, Heinzy decided to start with Hartman-Ek-Kaprizov at forward. Was he trying to get Kaprizov an ENG? Or, was giving Kaprizov some defensive responsibility part of his development? I truly wonder what Kaprizov would look like on the PK? He would add an offensive element that might be quite entertaining.

I've started to get the feeling that there is some animosity between the Wild and McBain. It seems to be deeper than an organization that he used to belong to. I haven't watched enough of him away from the Wild to understand if he just plays this way against everyone. We sure could have used a big frame like that playing center for us in a depth position. I wonder why he decided he didn't want to sign with us, if there was something else besides having to start in the A?

I too noticed the change in the PP. It was like they suddenly heard all off us yelling at them to move their feet and move the puck fast and hard. It was a wonder to behold until PP2 got on the ice. Yes they were awful. I like the trade that Tony suggested in an earlier article yesterday. The team needs a shooter with that mentality to make it work. 

Word was that McBain didn't believe that the Wild would give him a shot on the big club right away so BG worked a trade to get him to a team that could/would do that. Not sure why he seems to have an attitude with the Wild but like you I don't watch any Yote games.