ST. PAUL, Minn. — One of the biggest reasons for optimism about this Minnesota Wild season was how good Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber were as the No. 1 defense tandem from December on last season.

Hughes talked excitedly throughout the team’s abbreviated training camp about how he and Faber complemented each other, joking even before camp that playing with Faber could probably extend his career by three years.

So it was an emotional blow to the team when general manager and president of hockey operations Bill Guerin had to announce Tuesday that the Wild will instead start the season without Faber and have no timetable for his return after he underwent surgery to repair a fractured skull.

“You don’t recover from it. He’s that good of a player,” Hughes said. “You’re going to miss him. In saying that, we have a good team. We have a lot of depth. We’ll just have to do our best. We’ve got a lot of great players in here.”

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The loss of Faber comes as Hughes enters the final season of his contract. Hughes has spoken enthusiastically about playing with Faber but has also said he’s in no rush to sign an extension. Asked Tuesday whether he expects to begin the season without one, Hughes offered no prediction.

“I mean, today is Tuesday. The season starts on Thursday,” he said. “So we’ll see.”

For now, captain Jared Spurgeon will be elevated onto the top pair next to Hughes. Olli Maatta will fill in on the second pair, with left-shot Jonas Brodin sliding over to the right side. And Daemon Hunt, initially slated to be the seventh defenseman, will play on the third pair with Zach Bogosian.

Hunt and Bogosian will split Faber’s penalty-kill duties. Spurgeon will take Faber’s spot on the second power-play unit.

Hughes and Spurgeon played together for about 115 minutes last season, compared with Hughes and Faber’s nearly 815 minutes. Hughes and Spurgeon hovered just below the break-even point in shot and expected-goals share, according to Natural Stat Trick.

“(Hughes’) play speaks for itself,” Spurgeon said. “He’s a special player, and so is Brock. They’re such a good tandem together. Working off (Hughes) the last couple practices, it’s been nice to sort of work together, whether that’s in the D-zone or in transition — just getting to know each other’s habits. But he’s a special player that makes a lot of plays look easy that aren’t.”

Said Hughes: “(Spurgeon’s) really good, too. Such a great player. His hockey sense. I love playing with him also. I think me and him will be great together.”

Coach John Hynes expressed confidence that the Wild can withstand Faber’s absence.

“We have deep, capable guys,” Hynes said. “We’re not going to be able to replace Brock with one player, but some of his responsibilities will have to be divvied up, and that’s the way it goes.”

Faber was injured in the second period of Friday’s preseason finale when he was struck near the left ear hole of his helmet by a deflected shot. He played three shifts the rest of the period before being pulled in the third.

“He didn’t seem too out of it or anything like that,” said teammate Matt Boldy, who saw Faber after the game. “Obviously, we check on each other a lot during games when stuff like that happens, and he seemed all right.”

Hynes indicated that it wasn’t until “early in the morning, way after the game” that it became clear that Faber had a serious injury.

“It kind of developed a little bit more as time went on,” Hynes said.

Faber ultimately underwent surgery Sunday and was released from the hospital Monday.

“When guys go through those injuries, everybody wants to talk to him so much,” Hynes said. “But rest is the thing. But he texted me (Monday) and was getting out and said he was feeling better and going home. So that’s good. I know a bunch of the guys have communicated with him, as well.”

Only a smattering of players in the league wear plastic guards over each ear. No player on the Wild did, although Hughes, whose brothers, Jack and Luke, wear ear guards, said he’s considering wearing them now, and Spurgeon tried them out during Tuesday’s practice.

“You wear them growing up, and then I’m not sure why they’re not on these helmets,” Spurgeon said. “But after I saw (the Faber incident), I gave them a try. … I didn’t notice them at all.”

Faber’s teammates were obviously scared when they learned how serious the injury was.

“He’s just such a likable guy,” Hughes said. “Everyone really loves him in here and cares about him. You could see how worried people were — definitely the next day when you heard a little bit more about it.”

Added Faber’s best friend, Boldy, “It’s nice — his family’s from here, he’s from here. He’s got all of us in this room that will do anything for him. So it’s kind of our job right now to be there for him if he needs anything, help him out.

“Just kind of hoping he can lean on us, too, to help him get better.”

The Wild aren’t providing a timeline yet on Faber’s recovery, but Hynes indicated that this is not expected to be a season-ending injury, saying, “He will be back.”

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Faber is critical to everything the Wild do, though, so any time without him will be a challenge. He’s first over the boards on the penalty kill. He logs huge minutes. He plays against the other team’s best. He’s got a big shot and scored a career-high 15 goals last season. And he skates better than most defensemen in the league.

“The way he competes and plays the game, his attitude in and around the team, he brings a lot of juice on and off the ice,” Hynes said.

This was a team that was already banking on young players to provide more secondary scoring, from Bobby Brink to Danila Yurov to Max Shabanov. The Wild were also expecting a bump from a full season of Hughes and Faber. It’ll be interesting to see how dynamic the Wild will be now, and where production comes from.

“Every team’s going to go through injuries,” Boldy said. “We’ve gone through a handful of them in all the years I’ve been here, with top guys all the way through the lineup.

“So, as big of an impact as it’s going to have, it can be — I don’t want to say a good thing — but it can bring guys to another level to start the year. And then Brock comes back, and hopefully we can stay at that level and keep growing as a team.”

Added Hughes, “We’ll miss Brock not only for his game, but also for being around the guys — what he means to the group. But hopefully he’ll be back soon. I know it definitely wasn’t the worst-case scenario, so happy to know he’s going to be OK.”