The Carolina Hurricanes have traded defenceman Justin Faulk to the St. Louis Blues.
The Hurricanes have also sent a 2020 fifth-round pick to St. Louis. In exchange, St. Louis is sending defenceman Joel Edmundson, forward prospect Dominik Bokk and a 2021 seventh-round pick to Carolina.
TRADE ALERT! #stlblues acquire Justin Faulk and a fifth-round pick in 2020 from the Carolina Hurricanes.
DETAILS: https://t.co/muPb1xWQmR pic.twitter.com/bMY7ZewpXr
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 24, 2019
Faulk, 27, is entering the final year of a six-year, $29-million contract and carries a cap-hit of $4,833,333 million this season. After the trade was completed, he agreed to a seven-year, $45.5-million extension with the Blues that carries an average annual value of $6.5 million.
“We are excited to add Justin to our core group for the next eight years,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said in a statement. “He’s a top-4 defenceman who averages over 23 minutes a game and we are confident he will be a strong addition to our club.”
“We’d like to thank Justin for both his on-ice and off-ice contributions during his time with the Hurricanes,” Hurricanes GM Don Waddell said in a statement. “He was a great teammate and made a significant impact on the community, and we wish him all the best moving forward.”
Faulk has played his entire eight-year career with the Hurricanes after the team selected him in the second-round in 2010. A right-shot, power-play specialist, Faulk has scored at least 31 points in each of the last six seasons and hit double-digits in goals four times.
Faulk’s name has been in trade rumours in the past, but after the Hurricanes signed Jake Gardiner to a four-year contract earlier this month, those rumours got louder. Notably, a trade with the Anaheim Ducks was “intensely discussed,” but Faulk had the Ducks on his partial no-trade list, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Edmundson, 26, has played four seasons with the Blues. Last season he had 11 points in 64 games, along with a team-leading 68 penalty minutes. He also averaged over two minutes on the penalty kill and finished the season with a plus-eight rating. In the playoffs, he added seven points to help the Blues win the Stanley Cup for the first time.
Edmundson was awarded a one-year, $3.1-million contract by an arbitrator in August and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Bokk, 19, was a first-round pick by the Blues in 2018. Last season with Vaxjo in the Swedish Hockey League, Bokk had eight goals and 23 points in 47 games. This season with Rogle in the SHL, he has no points in four games.
