The Minnesota Wild shocked many this week when they signed Calder Trophy runner-up Brock Faber to an eight-year, $68 million contract. It’s a massive deal for a really good player who hopes to outplay that deal with quickness. With the salary cap going up and teams hoping to avoid mega deals down the line, they’d rather spend huge on RFA years to get a decent discount on UFA years (at least, that’s the hope).
Of course, the automatic reaction from New Jersey Devils fans was, “Watch out for Luke Hughes.” And, sure. Hughes is definitely at least looking at this contract and making this the set point. If the Devils want the youngest Hughes brother locked in for the maximum, this is probably the price. Don’t be surprised if it’s even more.
The connections between the two players are obvious. Hughes was third in Calder voting, one behind Faber. They both have great analytics to go with their decent counting numbers. They have game-breaking skills. Faber was helping his team win, and the Devils expect Hughes to do that as soon as next season.
However, this contract doesn’t impact Hughes. Not even a little bit. He was always going to ask for this kind of money. Faber is not a similar defenseman in actual gameplay. While Faber has offensive upside, Hughes has Erik Karlsson upside. Faber could be a superstar, but he will do it with play that splits the ice. He’s a true 200-foot player, which is great! But they tend to get paid a little less than those “special” talents like Hughes.
Brock Faber’s play does remind us of someone on the Devils: Simon Nemec.
Nemec is 20 years old. Faber is 21, but he will turn 22 before the season starts. Faber showed amazing offensive skills for the Wild last season, while Nemec is still a little green in that zone. However, they are pretty similar in terms of defensive play. According to Natural Stat Trick, Faber allowed roughly 61 chances per 60 minutes, while Nemec allowed roughly 62. Faber had 9.74 high-danger chances against per 60, while Nemec had 11.33.
Both players have shown they can eat up a ton of minutes, with Faber averaging a ridiculous 24 minutes per game. Nemec played 22 minutes in his very first NHL game, and he was forced to break between 23-25 minutes multiple times during the season. His inconsistent ice time (thanks Lindy Ruff) caused him to fall just under 20 minutes per game average, but he was mostly a workhorse when called upon.
Nemec will look at that Brock Faber deal and expect something similar. Add in the expected Luke Hughes extension, and this is a lot of money coming on the books. Nobody will mind paying two generational defensemen, but it is nice to have them both on entry-level contracts.
Of course, Nemec can’t sign anything until next offseason, and it wouldn’t even take effect until 2026-27. At that point, this could be a much different salary cap world we’ll live in. $8.5 million doesn’t hurt nearly as much when the cap is $100 million. However, it does become a problem because the Devils also have to pay Nico Hischier one year later.