Was Faulk to the Blues the most pointless and puzzling trade ever?

[rt]

The trade itself wasn't bad imo, the extension was baffling. No idea what Armstrong was thinking.

This is the correct answer.

 

[JT Kreider]

This is the correct answer.

For the purposes of this thread, the trade and his contract are one and the same since he was immediately extended.

 

[Spektre]

It’s definitely puzzled Blues fans ever since it happened. Faulk has admitted he didn’t have a good year but some of his stats are due to his usage. He’s not getting the same ice time at even strength or on the PP.

Something has to give. Even if Faulk could make the move to the left side it’s hard to make sense depth wise. Going forward, at least for now, the Blues will have Dunn, Scandella, Gunnarsson, Perunovich, and Mikkola fighting for ice time on the left side.

It leaves the right side and he’s not bumping Pietrangelo or Parayko. The only way the trade makes sense is if Army knew he’d never be able to sign Pietrangelo. You then have Parayko, Faulk, and Bortuzzo. Obviously it’s not as good without Pietrangelo but at least if Pietrangelo leaves you’re not paying a 3rd pairing D 6.5 million dollars per year.

Who knows? If Pietrangelo winds up signing perhaps Seattle takes Faulk. It would still make the trade very bad asset management.

 

[Leafs87]

That Seattle team is sure gonna be an expensive disaster:

Lucic - Duchene - Benn
Okposo - Abdelkader - Ryan
Kessel - Skinner - Neal
Ladd - - Eriksson

Seabrook - Faulk
Alzner - Subban
Jack Johnson - Erik Johnson
Boychuk

Bobrovsky
Quick
Lundqvuist

missing a forward and have an extra D man and goalie. Nicely done

 

[WATTAGE4451]

T

Should've been obvious that Faulk was going to have a "disappointing" season considering the inevitable decrease in TOI and especially PP time. Defensemen production is directly tied into their role and especially PP usage.

I have a hard time believing they make this move if Pietrangelo is staying. They had to know he's gone. I don't know though, maybe I'm overrating them as we all know NHL front offices tend to be really dumb more often than not.

he decrease in powerplay time was because of poor performance though. He started the year on the first unit but got demoted after a long streych of games doing nothing and eventually being removed from pp entirely for a short time before rejoining the unit.

 

[LakeLivin]

He had maybe 2 decent seasons where he still seemed to care about defense and was able to shoot the puck. Then I think he started to believe the hype and instantly became a liability. I think he realized that in his final year in Carolina, but it was too late.

But like you said, he was never the brightest bulb, which is why I never saw him as anything more as than a 3/4 defenseman who could shoot. I never considered him an offensive defenseman because he was such a crappy playmaker / QB. And his defensive awareness was pretty crap, though he was a pretty competent 1-1 defender because of his athleticism and strength.

If I had to grade him at his peak
A- for shooting
D+ for playmaking
B+ for 1-1 defending
C- for positional defense
C for compete level

That's a C+ defenseman, so maybe slightly above average.

This is really close to my take on Faulk. I started to closely follow the Canes 2 years into Faulk's NHL career and watched a vast majority of his Canes games after that. From before I started following the team, Faulk was the Golden Boy, viewed as more or less a star before he ever fully earned it (even added to the 2014 USA Olympic team in what I viewed as a "development" role). But his defense and compete level were both poor imo, possibly due in part to him buying into the hype. I watched him literally jump out of the way instead of blocking shots, even at critical points of games, and I never saw him stick up for a teammate other than the obligatory pairing up after team scrums.

So even though Faulk was still scoring goals at a high rate, I proposed a trade back in fall of 2017 when he might have returned RNH(+?). It's interesting to look back at opinions on Faulk at the time (spoiler alert: I was excoriated by some Canes fans, lol).
Proposal: - Justin Faulk and Derek Ryan for RNH and Matt Benning

Having said all that, I thought Faulk looked like a completely different (better) player in 2018-19. Not quite the goal scoring pace of earlier years but his defense was markedly improved and his compete level several notches higher. I suspect playing on the same team as Slavin and Pesce for a while requires a serious commitment to D in order not to look foolish in comparison. And I don't think you can play on a team captained by Justin Williams without a certain level of fire. Still, when it was time to consider re-signing Faulk, I was thinking he was worth somewhere in the vicinity of $4-$4.5m per, something that wasn't going to happen, hence the need for a trade.

While I don't see him living up to a $6.5m AAV, I do hope he finds success in St Louis.

 

[Human]

That Seattle team is sure gonna be an expensive disaster:

Lucic - Duchene - Benn
Okposo - Abdelkader - Ryan
Kessel - Skinner - Neal
Ladd - - Eriksson

Seabrook - Faulk
Alzner - Subban
Jack Johnson - Erik Johnson
Boychuk

Bobrovsky
Quick
Lundqvuist

If that will be the Seattle team, it will be choke full with picks...

 

[LakeLivin]

It’s definitely puzzled Blues fans ever since it happened. Faulk has admitted he didn’t have a good year but some of his stats are due to his usage. He’s not getting the same ice time at even strength or on the PP.

Something has to give. Even if Faulk could make the move to the left side it’s hard to make sense depth wise. Going forward, at least for now, the Blues will have Dunn, Scandella, Gunnarsson, Perunovich, and Mikkola fighting for ice time on the left side.

It leaves the right side and he’s not bumping Pietrangelo or Parayko. The only way the trade makes sense is if Army knew he’d never be able to sign Pietrangelo. You then have Parayko, Faulk, and Bortuzzo. Obviously it’s not as good without Pietrangelo but at least if Pietrangelo leaves you’re not paying a 3rd pairing D 6.5 million dollars per year.

Who knows? If Pietrangelo winds up signing perhaps Seattle takes Faulk. It would still make the trade very bad asset management.

Faulk would have to waive his NTC, no? According to CapFriendly Faulk has a full NTC for the first 5 years of his contract and a MNTC for the last two. Giving Faulk a NTC is as puzzling as the $, imo.

 

[TheBluePenguin]

Faulk would have to waive his NTC, no? According to CapFriendly Faulk has a full NTC for the first 5 years of his contract and a MNTC for the last two. Giving Faulk a NTC is as puzzling as the $, imo.

He might waive, it sure didn't look like he was having a lot of fun this year. No one really knows but I would think he was extremely frustrated with his play,

 

[LakeLivin]

He might waive, it sure didn't look like he was having a lot of fun this year. No one really knows but I would think he was extremely frustrated with his play,

Faulk does have a history with Ron Francis, although I'm not sure how much of an influence that would be. Gotta believe it would be a lot less than a coach he might be close to.

 

[AD Skinner]

Faulk was never the same after being injured in practice by Brad freaking Malone

 

[tarheelhockey]

Faulk was never the same after being injured in practice by Brad freaking Malone

I had forgotten all about that. It was indeed a turning point in his career.

 

[LakeLivin]

Faulk was never the same after being injured in practice by Brad freaking Malone

I had forgotten all about that. It was indeed a turning point in his career.

Well . . . Faulk scored a career best 17 goals the season after that injury, and I seem to recall a lot of, let's say less than stellar D before the injury. Sorry guys, but that's a bandwagon I can't quite jump on.

 

[Spektre]

Faulk would have to waive his NTC, no? According to CapFriendly Faulk has a full NTC for the first 5 years of his contract and a MNTC for the last two. Giving Faulk a NTC is as puzzling as the $, imo.

It’s at the sole discretion of the Blues if they protect Faulk or not. As you mentioned he has a NTC not a NMC. Only players with a NMC have to be protected.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

Faulk would have to waive his NTC, no? According to CapFriendly Faulk has a full NTC for the first 5 years of his contract and a MNTC for the last two. Giving Faulk a NTC is as puzzling as the $, imo.

Faulk doesnt have to waive no trade to be claimed by seattle. No trade just means no trade. It doesnt mean no movement.

 

[LetsGoBLUES91]

He started looking much better in the 3-4 weeks leading up to shutdown. We didn’t give up much.

The extension though? No clue what the idea was there. Why do it before he even played a game in STL?

 

[Oddbob]

Some random trade was the most puzzling EVER? There are hundreds of much more puzzling trades than this one! See Mike Milbury's list of work alone and you will find more than your fair share of head-scratchers.

 

[MMC]

It's pretty funny that this is a thread. Feels like only yesterday this site was raving about Justin Faulk.

 

[Got One Cup]

I think Army did it because he knew Petro was not going to be resigned. Faulk as the 2nd pair RD while moving Parayko up isn’t a bad option after losing Petro. I bet Faulk has a better year next season when he gets more time on his natural side and hopefully with more consistent line mate.

 

[Oddbob]

I think Army did it because he knew Petro was not going to be resigned. Faulk as the 2nd pair RD while moving Parayko up isn’t a bad option after losing Petro. I bet Faulk has a better year next season when he gets more time on his natural side and hopefully with more consistent line mate.

From STL perspective why would they not make sure to lockup Petro? He is at the top of my resign list if I am GM of STL. There are other less important pieces that can be moved if cap is the reason, and it is hard to imagine Petro wants out after playing there his entire career.

 

[Got One Cup]

From STL perspective why would they not make sure to lockup Petro? He is at the top of my resign list if I am GM of STL. There are other less important pieces that can be moved if cap is the reason, and it is hard to imagine Petro wants out after playing there his entire career.

You never know what a player wants. He could have his mind set on a certain destination. He could want an amount or term that Armstrong is uncomfortable with. When I saw we traded for Faulk I said Armstrong is not signing Petro. Then he extended Schenn for long term. Just my opinion but I think Army knew Petro was walking last offseason.

 

[dahrougem2]

9/11/19: Peter Chiarelli is hired as a special consultant to Doug Armstrong

9/24/19: The Blues trade for Justin Faulk

You might as well close the thread after this post lmao

 

[JT Kreider]

Bump this is a huge yikes from me for Armstrong and might have just slammed his Cup window shut

 

[Kuznetsnow]

Yeah it was comically dumb. Also being willing to overpay for guys like Faulk, Krug, Schenn and to a lesser extent Bozak and Scandella but not a player like Petro. Also not buying out Steen this summer pretty much signals that they're unwilling to max their roster for a cup run.

 

[StlBill]

This trade was devastating to our cup winning roster. Armstrong’s ego grew too big after the cup victory, and once again tried to demonstrate that he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. Overpaid a bum that gobbled up valuable cap space and just let arguably the best defenseman in our franchise’s history walk. It’s incredibly frustrating and baffling.