NHL players voted to participate in the Winter Olympics in 2026, meaning the world’s top pros will be on the ice there for the first time in a dozen years. But their return to the most visible international competition was supposed to come four years earlier.
The 2022 Winter Games in Beijing were originally slated to include NHL players, but with ongoing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic at the time, the decision was made — less than two months before Opening Ceremonies — that the pros would not go. This caused a bit of a scramble for USA Hockey to fill a roster using collegians and minor leaguers playing in Europe and elsewhere.
ST PAUL, MINNESOTA – DECEMBER 14: Quinn Hughes #43 of the Minnesota Wild celebrates his goal against the Boston Bruins with teammate Brock Faber #7 in the third period at Grand Casino Arena on December 14, 2025 in St Paul, Minnesota. The Wild defeated the Bruins 6-2. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
Minnesota coach Bob Motzko, who has a long and friendly history with USA Hockey, declared his Gophers roster fully available. America’s 2022 Olympic coach David Quinn promptly accepted the offer, grabbing forwards Ben Meyers and Matthew Knies, and defenseman Brock Faber, for the squad that traveled to China.
That experience means that Faber, now 23, arrives Milan for the 2026 Winter Games as one of two Americans, Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson is the other, with the Olympics already on his resume.
“It’s crazy to think. Obviously, it was much different,” Faber said while reflecting on the 2022 Games that were played under notable restrictions due to the pandemic.
The U.S. begins group play Thursday against Latvia. Puck drop is set for 1:10 p.m. CST.
Living with a lockdown
Athletes are usually free to meet and mingle with rivals from around the world in the Olympic Village and play games before enthusiastic flag-waving crowds. The venues in Beijing were mostly empty, and the teams were isolated from each other, subject to daily COVID tests and other inconveniences that put a notable damper on the experience.
“It’ll be new for me as much as it is for those guys,” Faber said of his first-timer teammates in Italy. “But it’s cool, yeah, to say you’re a two-time Olympian, it’s something I’ll never take for granted.”
Like many of his Wild teammates, Faber heads to Italy on a heater and has gotten a notable boost from the mid-December arrival of Quinn Hughes in Minnesota. Hughes has said that he saw the potential for 20 NHL goals in Faber, and indeed, the Maple Grove native has a career-best 13 already, with roughly two months remaining in the regular season.
“It is hard not to (score) when you play with a guy like that, right?” Faber said of Hughes, who has 31 assists in his first 26 games with the Wild. “Also, I have quite a few goals that maybe don’t go in another year, you know, that hit things on the way, and crazy bounces and stuff. But that’s just part of it.
“And, you know, scoring goals is fun. I love doing it. I love helping the team in that way. Like I said, playing with a guy like Quinn, it’s hard not to really grow offensively.”
Gopher greatness
Faber clearly brought a ton of talent to the NHL when he made his debut in April 2023, just two days after the Gophers were beaten in an overtime heartbreaker in the NCAA title game in Tampa. Originally from Maple Grove, Faber was a second-round draft pick by Los Angeles in the 2020 NHL Draft, then came home when the Wild acquired his rights in the trade that sent Kevin Fiala to the Kings in Summer 2022.
In three seasons with the Gophers, Faber helped the team win a Big Ten title every year and was named the conference’s defensive player of the year as a sophomore and junior, helping Minnesota reach the Frozen Four in both of those seasons.
As one of the NHL’s top young defensemen and one of only two native Minnesotans playing for the Wild, Faber’s replica jersey was already a hot seller before the December blockbuster trade. But his blue line pairing with Hughes has taken things to another level.
“In my experiences, when guys have an opportunity to play with a unique player like Hughesy, I think you see him do certain things. I think Brock realizes that they’re different players, but I think the way Hughesy utilizes his skating, I think you’ve seen Fabes playing with more tempo,” Wild coach John Hynes said after a home win versus Montreal in which Faber scored a tying goal in the third period off a feed from Hughes.
By watching and learning from Hughes’ constant motion with the puck, Hynes sees Faber’s game evolving.
“For example, if it’s in O-zone and it goes D to D, but as the pass is coming to him, he already knows what he’s going to do with the puck next by the time he catches it,” Hynes said. “He catches it in stride and then he is in motion. I think the speed with which he’s playing the game, mentally and with his skating and decision making, has elevated.”
Faber is used to wearing the Team USA jersey, not only from his previous Olympic experience but from the two seasons he spent in Michigan skating for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program prior to college. He already owns a gold medal, won in 2021 at the World Juniors. He just missed another one last winter, starting the title game’s overtime in the 4 Nations Face-Off, only to fall to Canada.
So, Faber heads overseas chasing gold again, bringing Winter Games experience and a ton of talent to Team USA. The crowds and the new faces they will meet in the Olympic Village will be a first-time experience. And if things go well, so will coming back to Minnesota with an Olympic gold medal.
MONTREAL, CANADA – FEBRUARY 13: Matt Boldy #12 of Team USA celebrates his goal against Team Finland at 17:04 of the second period and is joined by Brock Faber #14 in the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off at Bell Centre on February 13, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)