The Minnesota Wild’s 2024 offseason got off to a good start this weekend, when they landed a projected cinch top-4 defenseman at No. 12 overall in the NHL Draft.
Hitting on 18-year-old Zeev Buium (Denver) would give Brock Faber a high end running mate for the foreseeable future, while giving the Wild a definitive blue line plan post Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin, both of whom have had issues staying on the ice in recent years.
Speaking of Brock Faber, the Minnesota Wild are reportedly trying to make sure he remains part of their plan for as long as the NHL will allow, which is eight years, a rule that was created, in part, thanks to the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter 11-year deals that the Wild are still paying for.
Minnesota Wild begin extension talks with Brock Faber
While plans to talk contract extension have been in the works for a while, Michael Russo (The Athletic) noted this weekend that Guerin and Brock’s representation sat down at the negotiating table for the first time on Friday.
Guerin had a busy day Friday as he met with defenseman Brock Faber’s agents to begin initial contract talks toward a potential lucrative extension this offseason.
Michael Russo – The Athletic
Not only did Brock Faber meet the high expectations set for him in his rookie season, he far and away exceeded them, playing in all 82 games , scoring 8 goals and assisting on 39 more, easily producing the most points of any Minnesota Wild defenseman in 2023-24.
Had it not for Connor Bedard being pretty much preordained as Calder Trophy winner, Faber would have been the easy pick. He and Marco Rossi were both named to the NHL All-Rookie team , as a consolation.
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If any player on the Wild, outside of Kirill Kaprizov, deserves a big money extension, it’s the 21-year-old University of Minnesota alum and Maple Grove native. But how much will Faber’s new contract make him? Well, it’s expected to be the largest contract ever handed out by Craig Leipold, until Kaprizov (hopefully) beats it.
How much is Brock Faber going to cost the Minnesota Wild?
According to Charley Walters (Pioneer Press) , Brock Faber’s new deal is expected to come in at around 8 years, $64 million and talks are supposed to really heat up on Monday.
Look for negotiations to begin Monday for a $64 million, eight-year guaranteed contract for Wild defenseman Brock Faber, 21, the former Gopher who last week finished second in Calder Memorial Trophy (NHL rookie of the year) voting.
Charley Walters – Pioneer Press
If Faber indeed gets $8 million per season, he would become the 2nd highest paid player on the MN Wild roster, in terms of annual value, behind Kaprizov’s $9 million, and ahead of defensive teammates Spurgeon ($7.6M/YR) and Brodin ($6M/YR).
Nonetheless, $8 million per year would likely be seen around the league as really good value, especially if he is willing to do that number for eight years. Should Brock continue playing at the level he did last year, he’d be worth more than his salary pretty much the moment he stepped on the ice this fall.
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Remember, the NHL salary cap is expected to increase more significantly over the next few seasons, than it has anytime in recent memory, and $8M/YR is a far cry from some of the early projections we saw when a Faber extension was first floated at the very end of the 2023 season, which then exceeded $10 million per year .
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