Brock Faber may or may not be able to beat out Connor Bedard for Calder Trophy honors. Bedard participated in the All-Star Skills Competition, though not as a competitor, but he says he feels ready to come back.
When he does, he can extend his lead in the rookie point race, which usually does enough to clinch the Calder Trophy. Faber (and Marco Rossi) have done well in making up some of the gap between themselves and Bedard, but Bedard's 33 points before his injury still gives him a four and five-point lead over Faber and Rossi, respectively.
If Faber (or Rossi) can secure a Calder Trophy, that'd be the second one in franchise history, along with Kirill Kaprizov, who earned it as the best rookie of the shortened 2020-21 season. But if Faber doesn't join Kaprizov as a Calder Winner, he can at least boast one award that Kaprizov never got.
The NHL just named Faber the Rookie of the Month for January, the first winner of the honor in Wild history. Thanks in part to increased power play time, Faber's production exploded in January. His 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in 14 games for the month almost doubled his production entering the month (16 points in his first 35 games).
Not only did he lead all rookies in points, but was tied for sixth among NHL defensemen in January. Only Cale Makar, Noah Dobson, Quinn Hughes, Roman Josi, and Victor Hedman had more points throughout the month.
Faber's still an underdog for the Calder, even with Bedard's injury, but a few more months of this will be difficult for voters to ignore.
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