The Detroit Red Wings\u2019 most pressing need is a second-pair defenseman, and Justin Faulk of the St. Louis Blues could be the ideal fit for several reasons.<\/p>\n
The Blues are second-to-last overall and appear poised for a fire sale before the March 6 trade deadline. Faulk, 33, is not part of their future.<\/p>\n
Faulk as a right-handed shooter, would join Ben Chiarot on the Red Wings\u2019 second pairing, replacing rookie Alex Sandin-Pellikka, whose growing pains defensively have prompted coach Todd McLellan to sit him during large portions of the third period recently when protecting a one-goal lead.<\/p>\n
General manager Steve Yzerman is almost certain to be a buyer for the first time in his seven years in charge with the team well-positioned for a playoff spot. Whoever he acquires on defense, it will reduce Sandin-Pellikka\u2019s role, likely moving him to the third pairing with Albert Johansson. Having two young players paired together is not ideal, however.<\/p>\n
Regardless, the Red Wings need help on defense and Faulk is a solid two-way player with 15 years of experience. He has 11 goals and 28 points in 56 games and is on pace for his most productive season since 2022-23.<\/p>\n
Faulk has one year remaining on his contract at $6.5 million, so he\u2019s not the pure rental Yzerman does not like to acquire.<\/p>\n
Faulk would man the point on the second power-play unit, perhaps shifting Sandin-Pellikka to the left flank, and would provide another defense option on the penalty kill. He\u2019s a decent shot-blocker (second on the Blues with 97) and has cut down on turnovers from last season, when it was an issue.<\/p>\n
Yzerman has a close relationship with Blues GM Doug Armstrong, with whom he\u2019s made several trades. That always helps.<\/p>\n
The NHL\u2019s Olympic break trade freeze begins Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET and will be lifted Feb. 23 at midnight.<\/p>\n
The Red Wings have plenty of cap space to acquire a top-four defenseman and fulfil their other need of more scoring help up front. They have all their draft picks over the next three years except for their 2027 second-round selection and have stockpiled some prospects they could use to acquire a player or two who can provide immediate help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Red Wings\u2019 most pressing need is a second-pair defenseman, and Justin Faulk of the St. Louis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-455908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}