The Minnesota Wild will open the 2026-27 season when they travel to face the Nashville Predators on Saturday, but they will do so without star defenseman Brock Faber. Faber left after taking a puck to the head in the second period of Friday’s preseason finale against the Dallas Stars and was placed on injured reserve according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo.
Russo noted that the Wild’s move was retroactive to last Friday, meaning that Faber is eligible to come off injured reserve as soon as Saturday’s home opener against the Boston Bruins. But for a Wild team that has high expectations, it could make Minnesota’s chances against an improved Predators team a little more difficult and present a unique challenge in the season opener.
Brock Faber’s absence creates a new challenge on the Wild’s blue line
Faber had a pair of solid seasons in his first two years with the Wild, but last year he took a leap toward becoming a household name on a league-wide basis. Faber netted a career-high 15 goals and recorded 51 points in 80 games and a big part was his chemistry with midseason trade acquisition Quinn Hughes.
In addition to his regular season performance, Faber also helped the United States win an Olympic gold medal at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics last February and put an exclamation point on his breakout season, scoring four goals and recording 10 points during the Wild’s 11-game playoff run last May.
With that, Faber is one of several Wild players who have big expectations going into this season and is an important cog in the lineup. But with him on the shelf for at least Thursday’s opener, it will test Minnesota’s depth along the blue line.
A likely option for the Wild is to elevate captain Jared Spurgeon to the top pairing alongside Hughes and offseason acquisition Olli Maata to the second line to play alongside Jonas Brodin on the second line. The third pairing will have some chemistry between Daemon Hunt and Zach Bogosian, but the top four defensemen will be an experiment as the Wild look to get a win in their season opener.
Nashville’s new-look lineup will be a major issue for the Wild without Brock Faber
The Predators could make that pursuit of a win difficult. After missing the playoffs by four points last season, Nashville hired former Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris McFarland to the same role and also gave him the title of President of Hockey Operations.
Nashville also made big changes to its forward depth, acquiring Jack Drury and Ross Colton from Colorado and making additional trades to add forwards Nils Hoglander and Adam Edstrom to boost their bottom six.
With Alexander Kerfoot signing in free agency, the Predators have plenty of ammunition to back up Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Steven Stamkos and Ryan O’Reilly and could be a sleeper to watch behind the Central Division’s three-headed monster including the Wild, the Avalanche and the Stars.
Minnesota has the established defensemen to overcome the loss of Faber, but they fell apart in a similar situation when Brodin was injured in the first round of the playoffs and missed the entire second-round series against the Avalanche. In addition, the Wild are facing major questions in their top six after losing 150 points with the departures of Mats Zuccarello, Vladimir Tarasenko and Marcus Johansson in free agency and it could take time for the lineup to come together.
With that, losing Faber for any period of time isn’t ideal and it could pave the way for the Predators to steal one from the Wild as they look to begin a rebound campaign on a high note.
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