The Brock Faber situation in Minnesota got one layer clearer this week, but it still isn’t fully settled.
The oddest detail came at the Wild’s home opener on Saturday, when every healthy player was introduced to the crowd at Grand Casino Arena in downtown St. Paul - except Faber. That immediately set off alarms for fans, especially because goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, was announced among the scratches before puck drop.
At first glance, the omission looked strange. It turned out to be nothing more than a communication breakdown.
According to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, the original plan was for the scratches in attendance - Gustavsson, Nico Sturm and David Spacek - to join the coaches on the bench before the dressed players skated onto the ice. That changed at the last minute, but the update never made it to the public address announcer.
Had it been relayed, Faber’s name would have been included with the other scratches. Russo wrote that “It wasn’t a great look, but there was nothing nefarious behind the omission.”
The bigger story, of course, is still Faber’s injury itself - and the fact that the Wild continue to keep the details close to the vest.
What is known is that Faber was struck near the ear by a point shot from Miro Heiskanen, though the official game sheet credits Sam Steel, during the second period of Minnesota’s 2-1 preseason loss to Dallas on Sept. 25.
The puck hit him in an area the helmet doesn’t protect. He returned for his next shift and finished the period, but he did not play in the third.
Minnesota placed him on injured reserve on Sept. 28, retroactive to that Dallas game, which technically made him eligible to return for the home opener against Boston. Then, on Sept. 29, general manager Bill Guerin revealed that Faber had suffered a skull fracture and had surgery on Sept. 27.
“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,” Guerin said. He added that the team would “follow the doctor’s leads.”
Since then, the Wild have said little publicly. Their injury report still lists Faber with an “upper-body” injury and “No Timetable” for a return.
On KFAN Radio over the weekend, Russo said Faber couldn’t be at the game because putting him “in a loud building with a bunch of streaming lights probably isn’t the smartest thing to do” so soon after the injury. He also said Faber’s return-to-play process “goes beyond just the broken bone healing.”
For now, Russo’s latest update is the clearest sign of where things stand: “Faber continues to be on the mend from his scary injury and remains sidelined indefinitely.”
Minnesota, meanwhile, is still trying to navigate life without him. The Wild are off to a 2-0-1 start despite Faber’s absence, and the defense has mostly held up while Jesper Wallstedt has given them solid goaltending.
That point streak took a hit Tuesday night in Buffalo, though. Danila Yurov and Maxim Shabanov scored 1:45 apart in the second period to put Minnesota up 2-0, but the Wild couldn’t close it out. Buffalo scored twice in the third to force overtime, and Owen Power finished it off at 4:22 to hand Minnesota a 3-2 loss.
Afterward, Wallstedt said, “It’s a hard one to digest right now.”
The Wild also may have another injury concern to monitor. Nick Foligno left Tuesday’s game late in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Head coach John Hynes did not have an update after the game.
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