Article: Brock Faber's Fatigue Is Becoming An Issue For the Wild

[Robert Brent]

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[Dean]

This is an easy one. The solution is sitting in the press box. The guy they traded all there picks for.  He isn’t going to get development in Iowa. Where is the last batch of d man we were told were the future? Still in Iowa doing nothing. 
    Spurg isn’t pulling his weight if Faber minutes are that high an either are the little forwards that aren’t getting back to defend . They all just get overpowered . 
    I read today Billy said he didn’t go big at deadline because of the 4 year plan. Wait I thought it was a 5 year plan.  Yeah he probably meant year two so 4 more years but then you look at the crap he does, he really doesn’t have a plan or should he have wasted assets this worthless year  

   Why is ohgren in the minors when your washed up vets who just spent two weeks in Mexico are crying about being tired.  On yeah it’s because you spent all your money on a left wing pylon last free agency and didn’t leave enough space for call ups. Is that part of the 4 year plan to be clueless the last two years on salary cap?   Oh wait the cap penalties.  It’s so hard on Billy. Poor Billy. Except for the fact he’s got more than 14 million in bad contracts on this team that he gave out. 
     Fans are getting sick of this team and the same guys doing nothing year after year . It’s playoff time and they are getting booed. Heck the old fiala kappy teams were more interesting and exciting to watch.  So why’s don’t they have the kids in now to learn? They aren’t scoring , winning or competing  , so let the kids play.  
     Since this season is another to forget , what’s the future hold. Idk. If kappy doesn’t sign this crap was all a waste of time and Billy should be gone. If he does sign , how the heck do you build a contender with these prospects and all his dumb contracts.  Trading away all those picks basically signaled it’s go time with a bunch of middle of the road prospects .  This team needs a lot more than a Russian and Zeev.

[Burnt Toast]

The whole team looks gassed. I still can’t believe they beat the Aves and survived overtime, especially watching Makar skate through the entire Dallas team and dazzle Ott. I’m hoping for a rebound! I’m not against the idea of trying out some younger players who should be rested and 100% ready to go. 

[Citizen Strife]

They have little to lose putting Jiricek in for Merrill.  Getting beaten down 5-1 by the freaking Blues should be enough to see that one of Chisholm, Bogo, or Merrill should sit so Jiricek could get some offense going.  He showed in the earlier stint that his presence already matters.

I understand the risk.  But letting in 5 goals is letting in 5 goals.  At that point, you lost the game.  

Edited March 17 by Citizen Strife

[Willy the poor boy]

22 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

They have little to lose putting Jiricek in for Merrill.  Getting beaten down 5-1 by the freaking Blues should be enough to see that one of Chisholm, Bogo, or Merrill should sit so Jiricek could get some offense going.  He showed in the earlier stint that his presence already matters.

I understand the risk.  But letting in 5 goals is letting in 5 goals.  At that point, you lost the game.  

Doesn't sound like it's gonna be tonight according to Joe Smith.

[Patrick]

The level of stupidity displayed by the Wild over the last few years with managing players workloads and injuries boggles the mind.  First KK (remember when they were skating him 25 minutes a game, I wonder if his injuries have anything to do with that?🤔) and now Faber.  On top of injury risk the decline in play makes it a senseless thing to do

[RedLake]

Jiricek/Buuim. Just send it.

[hydguy75]

11 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

The whole team looks gassed.

Exactly.  You cannot expect a 22 year old, 2nd year defender to carry this team, including secondary scoring.  In fact, I'm really starting to question the GM and Coaches decisions to allow Fabs to put in that many minutes, especially if he is failing and winded recently.  Now, I get it- he's making veteran 2 way player money, but given the shear about of lost time by other key players to injuries, and the lack of offensive results by the subsequent forward lines, has the entire team exhausted.  Bring up some reliefs, close the season, lick your wounds, heal up over the summer, and figure it out for next year (then here we are again, revolving the same message year after year). 

Which all brings me to a side note.  Has the recent NHL expansions thinned out the league too much where there is not enough NHL-ready players on all of the rosters?  Or is it the NHL has added some really great players that they have moved the game up a few notches?  Even with our A-team, this is the best we have to lace up each night? 

 

[MacGyver]

The first step in proper player management is being realistic about where your standing is within the league. Is this team as it currently stands in the mix for winning the Stanley Cup this year? Highly doubtful even if a fully healthy Kaprizov and Ek return.

But yet they continue to grind Faber into the ground. Give him a couple maintenance days and play Jiricek or some of the other youngsters. I understand they are fighting to get into the playoffs because it's where OCL makes his money. But they are pretty solidly in right now. When Faber himself says he's tired and wore out the team should listen. They are risking serious injury to him for what? 

[Amaddeo]

I see the points being made in this article and by fans alike. I think if the Wild had the offensive luxury of winning games 5-1, 6-1 etc, they could sit Faber more and reduce his mins in those games. But every game is a close and low scoring game, so you see his ice time always around 25 mins. I agree with having Jiricek come in, even for a bit. Play the kid 13-16 mins with some PP time and see how he does. Maybe up Spurge’s mins a tad since he’s looked good. Then you can bring Faber’s mins down to 23 or so. I’m sure even that tiny adjustment would help keep him more fresh. 

[Will D. Ness]

Brodin getting back in the lineup in the next game or two should help with Faber's minutes.  Faber looked good last night... especially vs Fiala...  I bet there is a little competition between them.

[Scalptrash]

30 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

Brodin getting back in the lineup in the next game or two should help with Faber's minutes.

But it won't, he'll still be playing 26+ minutes. He should be given a game off when Brodin gets back or they will risk losing him to injury.

[mnfaninnc]

I agree with Dean's opening statement on this: The solution is in the Prossbox. Jiricek brings you some offense but is questionable defensively. But I have to ask, is he as questionable defensively as Bogosian is? He's got fresh legs. He plays a different style of defense where he likes to take out a man. The Wild are scared to play him more than 14 minutes a night, but they really should. This is how you gain experience. 

Also as a sidenote, if you're losing 5-1, why aren't you resting your best defender at that point? This is where a guy like Jiricek can munch some minutes. I don't dislike Bogosian, he ate minutes pretty well earlier this season. However, if I'm looking at him right now, I'd say he's also one of the fatigued ones.

Getting Brodin back will help, but let's face it, the Wild are feeling the pressure, and Heinzy is getting a bit desperate, that's why he throws Faber over the boards every other shift. Adding Buium will help, we'll have some more minute munching legs on the ice. 

The game Heinzy has them playing, a low event game, is very hard on the defenders. Not only must they defend, but they are instructed to block shots too. I think that Faber is banged up and isn't admitting it. He may have also hit the wall again. 

IIRC, after the trade deadline the roster limit is lifted. You can have more than 23 if the cap will allow it. On the regular cap, we're under water, but with the LTIR we're not. Can we use LTIR to lift our roster past 23 players? If so, we should be bringing up some kids and using them.

Our vets are playing above their role, the whole team is exhausted. We do not have the right amount of young guys playing right now. The 2nd year of the plan obviously does not have the kids playing yet. Why not rotate a couple of them around to see if they're ready? Haight and Lambos certainly deserve a cup of coffee. So, I think the real true thing here is that LTIR money probably can't be used in volume. So, Faber is stuck as is the whole team playing with their batteries blinking red.

[Up North Guy]

10 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Our vets are playing above their role, the whole team is exhausted. We do not have the right amount of young guys playing right now. The 2nd year of the plan obviously does not have the kids playing yet. Why not rotate a couple of them around to see if they're ready? Haight and Lambos certainly deserve a cup of coffee. So, I think the real true thing here is that LTIR money probably can't be used in volume. So, Faber is stuck as is the whole team playing with their batteries blinking red.

Also, it looks like Ohgren is playing lights out in Iowa. Is it time to bring him back up? I like that he is progressing and understand letting him grow, but maybe the team can put him in a place to succeed.

[Burnt Toast]

11 hours ago, hydguy75 said:

Now, I get it- he's making veteran 2 way player money, but

But he’s still on his ELC so less than $1M. Divide that by his minutes and he should get a plaque at X for cost/minute!! Not Weird Wild. 

[mnfaninnc]

16 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

Also, it looks like Ohgren is playing lights out in Iowa. Is it time to bring him back up? I like that he is progressing and understand letting him grow, but maybe the team can put him in a place to succeed.

Ohgren is in a tough position. He is probably better than the A, but is not up to par in the N yet. For a team that is having to play almost perfect on defense, Ohgren is not that player yet. Honestly, I think he needs to be bigger and play much bigger. 

Part of his issue is he looks like a slot hockey player on the ice in the N. The rest of the Wild forwards are all over the place and, really, they only have positions when they lineup for a faceoff. OgZ plays it differently, and it has led to very few chances for him. I suspect that some of this is mental as he plays defensively instead of going out to get things done. Even Heinzy has said he should relax and just go out and play. 

This assessment is based on the right now and not really his potential. How does he climb to his potential? He needs time in the N to figure it out. I think if we were in the same position as last season, he could have played the 2nd half of the season in the N without all the pressure to make the playoffs. You'd probably have a better result from a player who is freer to make mistakes, but learn from them.

[Mateo3xm]

I feel like once Zeev gets here and if he turns out to be how a lot of us think he will be, that will take a lot of pressure off of Faber. Ideally Zeev will be on the number one power play. I think he’s better suited there over Faber.

[Pewterschmidt]

12 minutes ago, Mateo3xm said:

I feel like once Zeev gets here and if he turns out to be how a lot of us think he will be, that will take a lot of pressure off of Faber. Ideally Zeev will be on the number one power play. I think he’s better suited there over Faber.

College Sophomore joins Wild and QB's PP1 on day one.

#peakprospectinflation

[RedLake]

Buuim is gonna come onto a NHL sheet of ice and excel. Kid is legit more so than Faber was.

[Mateo3xm]

On 3/19/2025 at 10:51 AM, Pewterschmidt said:

College Sophomore joins Wild and QB's PP1 on day one.

#peakprospectinflation

Not once did I say he was going to come here on day one and take 1st PP. That goes without saying. Zeev’s well rounded but he’s more of an offensive defenseman, so he’d be better suited on the PP if he continues his trajectory.