Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber underwent surgery for a fractured skull on Sunday, the team announced Tuesday and has no timetable for his return.
The 24-year-old blueliner was placed on injured reserve indefinitely after the procedure, the team said in a Tuesday update.
General manager Bill Guerin told reporters the surgery went well and that Faber is recovering at home.
“He just had a serious surgery and an injury, so we’re just gonna update you guys when the time’s right,” Guerin said, The Athletic reported. “But he’s doing well. He’s doing really well, which is good news. And we’ll just follow the doctors’ leads.”
Faber sustained the injury during the second period of Friday’s preseason finale against the Dallas Stars, when a deflected shot from Dallas forward Sam Steel struck him near the left side of his head, according to NHL.com. He went down on the ice, then skated to the bench under his own power and did not miss his next shift, ESPN reported. They removed him in the third period and took him to a hospital.
Guerin was asked why Faber remained in the game after the impact.
“Yeah … there wasn’t. You know, it just didn’t … he seemed OK. As things progressed, we had to pull him,” he said.
Coach John Hynes said the puck missed a far worse outcome by a narrow margin.
“If it was a quarter of an inch higher, it just hits his helmet,” Hynes said.
Guerin stressed that the roster question is secondary right now.
“Brock’s a son. He’s a brother. He’s got a girlfriend. There are people that care about him, so we got to worry about the human being right now, not so much the lineup,” the general manager told reporters.
Faber was set to open the season on a top pairing with Quinn Hughes. Captain Jared Spurgeon is expected to slot into the role while he recovers. The Wild lost Friday’s game 2-1 and opened the regular season Thursday on the road against the Nashville Predators.
The defenseman is coming off a career year, recording 15 goals and 36 assists across 80 games while averaging 24:41 of ice time, second on the team only to Hughes. He won gold with Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics and took silver at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The injury follows a puck strike that left Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar with facial fractures and a corneal abrasion in April, though he avoided surgery.
News of the injury drew a wave of reaction online after the Wild’s public relations account posted the update Tuesday.