Brock Faber Is Returning From a Fractured Skull Because Hockey Players Are Not Normal

Hockey players are a different species. Frank Seravalli is reporting that Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber is trending toward a Saturday night return to the lineup in Boston. That sounds like standard injury news until you remember the reason he has been out: he fractured his actual skull.

Faber took a deflected puck to the side of the head in a preseason game against the Dallas Stars on September 25, had surgery two days later, and is now ready to play professional hockey just six weeks after the fact. If a normal person fractures their skull, they are taking six weeks off from looking at bright screens, let alone stepping in front of 100-mph slap shots.

This is a massive boost for a Minnesota team that has somehow survived a brutal stretch of injuries. Faber is not just a depth guy eating third-pairing minutes. He logged 24:41 of ice time per game last season, the ninth-most in the entire NHL, and racked up 51 points while anchoring the blue line.

The Wild are currently sitting at 11-3-3 and leading the Central Division with 25 points, which makes absolutely no sense given their medical report. They have been missing Faber, captain Jared Spurgeon, and both Marcus Foligno and Nick Foligno. Getting a 24-minute-a-night workhorse back completely changes how you have to evaluate this team's nightly odds going forward.

When a guy who just won Olympic gold with Team USA drops back into a lineup that is already overachieving, the ceiling instantly raises. Minnesota has been winning games with duct tape and vibes, and now they get their franchise cornerstone back on the ice.

Assuming he gets the final green light for Saturday against the Boston Bruins, the rest of the league is officially on notice. The Wild survived the hardest part of their schedule without their best defenseman, and now they get to unleash a guy who apparently treats a fractured skull like a mild ankle sprain.