Brock Faber momentarily took over the Calder Trophy conversation during Bedard's injury absence, but that quickly faded once Bedard returned. However, that should not discredit the solid rookie campaign that Faber has amassed.
Brock FaberThere’s no doubt: Brock Faber has been a crucial difference-maker for the Minnesota Wild this season.
But history suggests that his supporters have a near-impossible road ahead as they try to swing the Calder Trophy voting away from Connor Bedard and over to their homegrown hero.
In mid-February, THN’s Wild site editor, Dylan Loucks, declared that Faber deserved the Calder and said, “it’s not even close.” He cited the 21-year-old’s impressive offensive numbers as well as his strong underlying metrics on the defensive side of the puck.
At the time, Faber’s 33 points had him tied with Bedard atop the rookie points race. But on Feb. 15, Bedard returned to action after missing 14 games with a fractured jaw.
In the six weeks since, he has out-pointed Faber 24-8, building himself a 16-point cushion.
In February, the Wild were also making a move up the standings, getting within two points of a playoff spot. As recently as March 19, they were just three points out.
But Minnesota has earned just three points in its last four games. The Wild are now eight points behind the Los Angeles Kings, with just nine games left to play.
That also hurts Faber’s Calder case.
He had been earning praise for keeping Minnesota in the mix while playing a larger-than-typical role for a rookie defenseman. Injuries have limited Wild captain Jared Spurgeon to just 16 games this year and defenseman Jonas Brodin has also missed 20 games.
Playing on Minnesota’s top pairing and on both the power play and penalty kill, Faber is in the top 10 in average ice time in the entire league, averaging 25:03 per game and keeping company with players like Charlie McAvoy and Noah Dobson.
When the Wild traded Kevin Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings during the summer of 2022, they were thrilled to be able to bring back a first-round pick and Faber, a native of Maple Grove, Minn. who played three years at the University of Minnesota before turning pro.
But no one expected the studious-looking kid with the big glasses to be so impactful, so quickly. The Kings originally drafted him at No. 45 in 2020.
When it comes to Calder voting, recent history suggests that voters tend to start their analysis by looking at the highest-scoring rookie, then see if anyone else might stack up.
In the last 10 years, the leading rookie scorer has taken home the award seven times:
- 2023 - Matty Beniers - 57 pts in 80 games
- 2021 - Kirill Kaprizov - 51 pts in 55 games (shortened season)
- 2019 - Elias Pettersson - 66 pts in 71 games
- 2018 - Mat Barzal - 85 pts in 82 games
- 2017 - Auston Matthews - 69 pts in 82 games
- 2016 - Artemi Panarin - 77 pts in 80 games
- 2014 - Nathan MacKinnon - 63 pts in 82 games
Defensemen won the award in the other three years:
- In 2022, Moritz Seider finished fourth in rookie scoring with 50 points in 82 games. He earned 170 of 195 first-place votes for the Calder, beating out Trevor Zegras, Michael Bunting and his Detroit teammate Lucas Raymond.
- In the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season, Quinn Hughes led all rookies with 53 points in 68 games. He received 53 first-place votes and finished second in Calder balloting, but was beaten out by Cale Makar.While Makar sat second with 50 points that year, he played just 57 games, so his points-per-game was higher than Hughes’. Makar’s case was also likely boosted by his Colorado Avalanche finishing 14 points ahead of Hughes’ Vancouver Canucks in the league standings that year.
- In 2015, Aaron Ekblad earned 71 first-place votes to capture the Calder in a year where the voting was essentially split three ways. With 39 points in 81 games, Ekblad finished eighth in rookie scoring and wasn’t even the highest-scoring rookie defenseman — John Klingberg bested him by one point. But he was a first-overall draft pick who jumped straight into the NHL immediately after being drafted and helped the Florida Panthers improve by 25 points in his first year.
Like Makar, Faber made his NHL debut in the playoffs, in the year before his rookie season. He immediately made a strong impression last spring. But he didn’t put up any points, and the Minnesota Wild were eliminated in the first round by the Dallas Stars.
But unlike Seider, Makar or Ekblad, Faber faces fierce competition in the form of Bedard, whose profile fits most voters' Calder requirements almost perfectly. He's a high-scoring first-overall pick who plays center, and who jumped straight into the league at 18. He also sells tickets wherever he goes and has instantly become one of the marquee faces of the NHL.
For a time, Bedard’s injury looked like it could derail his Calder momentum. But he only missed 14 games — far fewer than the 37 missed games that led to a third-place Calder finish for Connor McDavid in 2016.
And while the Chicago Blackhawks fell out of contention early and aren’t drawing as many eyeballs these days, they finished the month of March with a winning record of 7-6-0.
Bedard’s numbers have actually improved since he came back from his injury:
- Oct. 10 - Jan. 5: 39 GP, 15-18-33, 19:04 per game
- Feb. 15 - Mar 30: 21 GP, 6-18-24, 20:52 per game
Yes, his minus-39 for the year is not a pretty sight. But it’s important to consider the players around him as well. The Blackhawks finished with a team goal differential of minus-97 in 2022-23. This year, they’re right back in the same ballpark, at minus-95.
Even if Faber doesn’t garner the necessary support to claim the Calder, that's no slight against what he’ll be able to accomplish as his career progresses. Makar is the only Norris Trophy winner in the last decade who was also named rookie of the year.
Here’s where the Norris winners from the last decade ranked in Calder balloting in their rookie years:
- 2023 and 2015 - Erik Karlsson - no votes in 2010 - winner was Tyler Myers
- 2021 - Adam Fox - fourth in 2020, behind Makar, Hughes and Dominik Kubalik
- 2020 - Roman Josi - no votes in 2012 - winner was Gabriel Landeskog
- 2019 - Mark Giordano - no votes in 2007 - winner was Evgeni Malkin
- 2018 - Victor Hedman - ninth in 2010 - top three were Myers, Jimmy Howard and Matt Duchene
- 2017 - Brent Burns - no votes in 2004 - winner was Andrew Raycroft
- 2016 - Drew Doughty - fifth in 2009: top three were Steve Mason, Bobby Ryan and Kris Versteeg
- 2014 - Duncan Keith - no votes in 2006 - winner was Alex Ovechkin
As that list suggests, plenty of Calder winners go on to have great careers while many, many others need a little more time before they start to earn the recognition they deserve.
At this stage, it's a major accomplishment for Faber to have made himself a crucial part of this year's top-rookie conversation.