The defenseman was injured in the Wild's 2-1 preseason loss to the Dallas Stars on Friday when he was hit in the head with a shot by Dallas forward Sam Steele at 10:24 of the second period. The shot hit around the ear area that isn’t protected by the helmet.
“If it was a quarter-of-an-inch higher, it just hits his helmet,” Wild coach John Hynes said.
Faber was down on the ice briefly before skating to the bench under his own power. He returned for the next shift and played in the rest of the period but did not return for the third period.
“It’s disappointing for the team but more a little bit scary for him, obviously,” defense partner Quinn Hughes said. “Obviously, a massive part of our team, so we’ll have to have other guys step up.”
Faber, 24, is entering his fourth full season with the Wild. He had 51 points (15 goals, 36 assists) in 80 games last season, helping the Wild reach the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. A member of the gold-medal winning Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics with Hughes, Faber has 127 points (33 goals, 94 assists) in 242 NHL regular-season games.
He averaged 24:41 of ice time last season, second on the Wild only to Hughes (27:54), and led them in short-handed time on ice per game (2:24).
“Brock’s a great guy,” Hughes said. “Obviously, we won gold together, and I’ve been his D partner since I’ve been here and just good friend and an excellent player. But I think everyone in here, they love Brock for who he is as a person.”
Faber was going to start the season on one of the most dynamic defense pairs in the League, but with no timetable for his return, it’s unclear when he will be back in the lineup.
"Brock's a great player. He's a big player for us. It's always going to affect your team when guys like that are out," Guerin said. "The biggest thing here is that he's doing well. And sometimes you just have to put the hockey aside and worry about the human being. That's what we're doing here now."
Captain Jared Spurgeon was paired with Hughes in the third period of the game Friday and has remained with him throughout practices since.
“We’re not going to be able to replace Brock with one player,” Hynes said. “But some of his responsibilities will have to be divvied up. And that’s the way it goes.
“He plays a lot of important situations for us, and he plays against a lot of the team’s top players. … When a player like that comes out, (the) on-the-ice part of it, guys have to be able to step up and make sure that no one’s trying to take his place. It’s just making sure that the responsibilities and the minutes are divided up and you do it by a group effort.”
Forward Matt Boldy said being without Faber to start the season is now a big loss.
“Every team’s going to go through injuries,” Boldy said. “We’ve gone through a handful of them all the years I’ve been here, top guys all the way through the lineup. As big of an impact it’s going to have, it can be, I don’t want to say a good thing, but it can bring guys to another level to start the year.”
Daemon Hunt and Zach Bogosian will likely split some of the penalty-kill time, and Spurgeon will take Faber’s spot on the power-play unit, Hynes said.
“For Brock, you hope he’s feeling well and takes as much time as possible to get healthy,” Spurgeon said. “Obviously, it’s a scary situation, especially with the head and everything like that.
“Just care about him getting healthy and feeling well. That’s the main thing right now.”
The Wild open the season at the Nashville Predators on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; MINNHL, Wild+, SCRIPPS).
