Carolina Defenseman Justin Faulk Needs To Find a Balance Next Season

Justin Faulk has a ton going for him, but he is still searching for a middle ground to get him from a great player to an elite player.

There is something weird about critiquing Justin Faulk‘s season. He was an All-Star for the third straight season. He was Carolina’s highest scoring defenseman once again. Finally, he now owns the franchise record for goals by a defenseman in a season (he scored 17 goals this year). There really shouldn’t be any reason to rag on objectively one of Carolina’s best and most popular players.

Yet, here I am. For all of his accomplishments this year, the consensus is that Faulk underwhelmed for much of the year. He was never able to shake off a slow start. His campaign was riddled with poor defensive positioning and some very untimely turnovers.

For those who don’t follow the Canes that closely, Faulk remains the team’s best defenseman. However, for people closely following the franchise, Faulk was the second or third best blueliner in Carolina this season. Jaccob Slavin‘s exceptional sophomore season overshadowed Faulk’s goalscoring and Brett Pesce was as sturdy as they come.

Personally, I think Jaccob Slavin is Carolina’s best defenseman. Faulk though has the ability to take over games, something Slavin doesn’t do just yet. Take the March 27th game against Detroit where Faulk single handedly rescued a point for Carolina with 2 goals, including this filth.

What does this mean for Faulk going forward? He needs to find a happy medium to operate in. Which means he needs to more consistently have his defensive effort match his offensive one. Faulk certainly has that capability, we’ve seen it before. It has to be an every night occurrence though.

Scoring tons goals from the blue line is something that’s rare, but it doesn’t mean much if you can’t back it up in your own end. You can’t really mark Faulk’s shortcomings in his own zone down to goaltending or match-ups either. Faulk was -18 this season. Slavin and Pesce were +23 playing heavy minutes against top lines.

The tide feels like it has turned though. To close out the season, he and his partner Noah Hanifin strung together some great all around performances. It provided a great glimpse into the Canes long term pairings. Slavin and Pesce providing shutdown defense with Faulk and Hanifin being the offensive wild cards.

I am not saying Faulk has to completely lose the risk taking in his game. That’s a big part of his success. I am however saying he needs to exhibit a stronger effort next season with regards to positioning and decision making in his own end.

Next: Carolina Needs to Look for Skill in the Draft

When I look at Faulk, I see Brent Burns lite; an extremely talented, bearded, albeit smaller offensive defenseman. If Faulk wants to get to that quality of company, he has got to strike a balance. Right now he is great, but he can be elite if he focuses on all parts of the ice.

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