Carolina Hurricanes: The Halted return of Justin Faulk
If the season had gone ahead as planned, the St Louis Blues would have come to PNC Arena tonight to play against the Carolina Hurricanes.
It would have marked the return of one of Carolina’s longest tenured players in last season’s deep playoff run, when Justin Faulk was set to return to Raleigh. It would have been very emotional, with Faulk having been a canes player drafted and developed. We may all disagree on his ability, but he was never anything less than a great person for the team, and for the city.
Faulk was drafted in the 2nd round, 37th overall in the 2010 NHL entry draft. Having played for Minnesota-Duluth at college, it was common knowledge that Faulk was a player capable of scoring from the blueline almost at will. He didn’t disappoint when he came into the NHL either.
In 8 years in Raleigh, over 559 games with the organisation, Justin Faulk would record 85 goals, 173 assists for 258 points. He is second in goals scored by a defender for the franchise, only to Dave Babych. Faulk set a lot of new records with the Carolina Hurricanes from recording a natural hat trick, to point and goal scoring. He did it all for this franchise.
Justin Faulk of the @NHLCanes is the 10th different defenseman in NHL history to score a natural hat trick. #NHLStats #LAKvsCAR pic.twitter.com/TEUYw7e4mn
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 14, 2018
Faulk also helped in many other ways. Being someone who started playing in the NHL just 2 years after he was drafted, he was still young when he came into the NHL and he had to go through the motions on a team that, let’s be honest, was awful. He always came in, never spoke badly of the team, fanbase or city, and always did what he had to do in order to help the team, himself and the fanbase.
Justin Faulk Tuesday night became just the 10th defenceman ever to record a natural hat trick. He was also the 5th to do so in @NHLCanes franchise history pic.twitter.com/tsLdDfC05p
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 14, 2018
Faulk never complained about being on a horrible team. He never asked to be traded. He never wanted to do anything that would upset the fans or his teammates. On the ice, he was a polarizing figure. You either loved him, or hated him. However, trying to argue that what he had done for the team, this city and this fanbase was less than extraordinary is a waste of time.
Trading him was the right thing to do. We had (and still have) a log jam on the blue line. Joel Edmundson has been a notable downgrade in terms of production, but the acquisition of someone with the pure talent of Dominik Bokk was well worth it. Justin Faulk left us with so many memories, let us not forget them quickly.
Question for Cardiac Cane readers: Do you think trading Justin Faulk was the right thing to do?
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