The Blues got better by upgrading from Joel Edmundson to Justin Faulk on defense at the expense of forward prospect Dominik Bokk, who went to Carolina with Edmundson to complete the surprising deal.
That's the bottom line for Tuesday's trade. The Blues are serious about defending their Stanley Cup and Faulk makes them better.
This deal came out of left field, even though the Hurricanes had Faulk on the market for some time, since he was headed toward unrestricted free agency in a season. Once Carolina signed free agent Jake Gardiner, Faulk absolutely had to go.
The Anaheim Ducks explored a trade for Faulk, but couldn't connect on a contract. The Winnipeg Jets seemed like a logical option, since defensive bulwark Dustin Byfuglien is away from the team pondering retirement.
The Blues were already strong on defense, led by Alex Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko, Vince Dunn and Jay Bouwmeester.
"St. Louis wasn't necessarily one we were looking at as one that would be able to make a trade happen," Faulk said during his conference call Tuesday afternoon. "Not a huge surprise, but probably more so welcoming it, if anything."
He adds another big shot and tons of power-play experience to the blue line. He has scored 15 or more goals three times in his career and he has put more than 210 shots on goal four times.
A team with myriad options for the man advantage got one more. New assistant coach Marc Savard just got another weapon to play with.
If Faulk plays in the Top 4 for the Blues at even strength, one of their right-shot defensemen will have to move to the left side. Or he could ease in on the third pairing.
However it plays, Faulk should make the Blues better. General manager Doug Armstrong believes in building a strong defense and this is one of the league's best units now.
Of course, Faulk's addition creates a salary cap crunch even though his seven-year, $45.5 million extension doesn't kick in until next season.
Let's look at all the angles:
