Wild rookie Brock Faber has emerged as the Calder Trophy front-runner. Here’s why.

The best rookie in the NHL isn’t in the NHL right now. So the best rookie in the NHL right now could be the best rookie in the NHL.

Got it?

That’s the easy explanation for why Wild defenseman Brock Faber’s Calder Trophy buzz has surged at the halfway point of the season. The honor for the NHL’s rookie of the year was postmarked for 18-year-old phenom Connor Bedard once Chicago drafted the highlight-making machine first overall last summer, but the broken jaw Bedard suffered earlier this month that’ll keep him out of commission for at least another six weeks has complicated his candidacy.

But Faber isn’t getting attention by default.

His performance all over the ice is the real reason why he’s emerged as a front-runner for the award.

“The way that he’s played and the situations he’s played in, he’s certainly deserving of that type of talk,” Wild coach John Hynes said.

This recognition usually ends up going to the forward who produces the most points. Scoring greats Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane and Auston Matthews are all past recipients, and so is Kirill Kaprizov. He became the Wild’s first honoree in 2021, a near-unanimous winner after leading all first-year players with 27 goals and 51 points.

Still, standout defensive seasons don’t go unnoticed.

Detroit’s Moritz Seider was picked just two years ago, and two years before that Colorado’s Cale Makar snagged the trophy. (The Calder is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.)

Sign up for our Wild Update newsletter

Based on Faber’s statistics and the impact he’s having on the Wild, he’s assembling a compelling case.

Consider this: the 21-year-old from Maple Grove, who starred for the Gophers in college, has the highest average ice time among all rookies at 24 minutes, 44 seconds, which ranks 11th in the NHL for any player, period.

Faber has played at least 30 minutes five times, and the career-high 33:25 he logged Dec. 21 vs. Montreal is the most played by an NHLer this season and third highest for a rookie since 2000-01.

Faber leads rookies in blocked shots (93) while appearing in every Wild game. The Wild have scored approximately six more goals than expected at 5-on-5 and own 51% of the scoring chances when Faber plays.

As for the ever-popular points tally, Faber has four goals and 24 assists (first among rookies) for 28 points, which is also how many teammate Marco Rossi has; they’re tied for second, behind the idle Bedard by five.

After scoring on Tuesday in the Wild’s 5-3 win over Washington at Xcel Energy Center, Faber set a Wild franchise record for longest point streak by a rookie defenseman at five games (two goals and six assists).

Two of his last three games have been multi-point efforts, and he’s two away tying Filip Kuba for the most points in a Wild season by a rookie defenseman.

“The game management he has is something you see out of a veteran,” Marcus Foligno said.

Then there are the intangibles.

Acquired for Kevin Fiala in the 2022 offseason trade with Los Angeles after the Kings drafted him during the second round in 2020, Faber started his NHL career just last spring after leaving the Gophers.

He appeared in two regular-season games and the playoffs before debuting this season in a top-four role, taking the spot vacated by Matt Dumba. But Faber ascended the depth chart to the No.1 pairing after injuries to the blue line.

While captain Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin were out in December, Faber helped stabilize the Wild blue line to the tune of a 7-1 run. As a regular on the penalty kill, he’s taken over quarterbacking the first power play unit, and his responsibilities pit him against the other team’s best players.

The Wild, who play Nashville on Thursday night at Xcel, still have work to do to catch up to a playoff spot, but imagine where they’d be without Faber’s contributions.

“Defenseman, as a young guy in the NHL, is a really hard position to play,” Hynes said. “Not only is it a hard position to play, but with the injuries, he’s been put in situations where he’s got to be a top pair ‘D’ and play those minutes and play that type of competition.

“His effectiveness, his consistency level has been really impressive.”

Bedard returning to run away with the Calder Trophy wouldn’t be impossible. The talent he displayed before he got injured was legit, but a foregone conclusion is now up for debate because of his injury.

Faber made it that way.

“I care more about winning games,” he said. “Whatever I can do to help the team win is what I want to do. Calder and all that, I really just try and stay focused on my game, building that consistency in my game, and playing as best I can for these guys.”