Points aside I think Faulk will be much better this year without a certain someone being shocked that he was traded for and signed looming over him.
Show me on stats where Faulk deserves the money and term he’s making. Please.
Points aside I think Faulk will be much better this year without a certain someone being shocked that he was traded for and signed looming over him.
Show me on stats where Faulk deserves the money and term he’s making. Please.
A small minority are bashing him (like 1 or 2 people), but everyone else I feel is being pretty reasonable.Aaaand predictably this thread is now a Faulk bashing thread.
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ITT I have read the following:A small minority are bashing him (like 1 or 2 people), but everyone else I feel is being pretty reasonable.
Yeah, it's the same two guys saying all those things. I do believe they are undervaluing Faulk quite a bit, but when a guy is overpayed like he is, it comes with the territory. I expected Faulk would become the whipping boy eventually. Now that Allen is gone it's probably gonna get worse. Oh well.ITT I have read the following:
Faulk has never and likely will never play a solid D game
Faulk is a bottom 6 forward, not a real dman
Faulk could not be carried by Pietrangelo/Parayko; he is not a top 4 dman but rather a bottom pairing player with low defensive IQ, and he is in fact a joker that canes fans bashed for good reason
And then when someone had the gall to even suggest Faulk would have a much better year, they were immediately mocked and challenged.
Krug - Parayko
Mikkola - Faulk
Scandella - Bortuzzo
Gunnar/Dunn/Perunovich
The bolded is part of my reply to someone who wanted to see Faulk play solid defense. This is what I actually posted.ITT I have read the following:
Faulk has never and likely will never play a solid D game
Faulk is a bottom 6 forward, not a real dman
Faulk could not be carried by Pietrangelo/Parayko; he is not a top 4 dman but rather a bottom pairing player with low defensive IQ, and he is in fact a joker that canes fans bashed for good reason
And then when someone had the gall to even suggest Faulk would have a much better year, they were immediately mocked and challenged.
I think he is good for 20+ points. I may even have gone with 30+ if it was a longer season. Like others have suggested, it depends on how much PP time he gets. Sometimes I wonder if the Blues plan was to acquire Faulk and somehow turn him into a two-way all-purpose player. This would explain why Berube keeps putting him on the PK. If I am right, I really question the wisdom of this venture. It does not make any sense to me to acquire and commit to a PP specialist and then not give him ample PP minutes.
Context is everything. If you would like to explain why you think Faulk was a two-way defender in Carolina, and/or explain why you think he will become one going forward, I will be happy to read it.He has never done that before in his career, so why would you expect him to start now? On the bright side, he can still contribute significantly to the offense, and probably won't be a liability if he is paired with the right partner.
I don’t get where this only a pp specialist narrative comes from. He scores much less on pp than Petro throughout his career. He played lots of minutes in all situations in Carolina. He had ups and downs but was generally very good there. He was moved around a lot last year and never got comfortable until the bubble where he was really good. He now has a defined role and it is reasonable to expect that he bounces back. But he ain’t likely to put up big point totals as that just isn’t his game.The bolded is part of my reply to someone who wanted to see Faulk play solid defense. This is what I actually posted.
Context is everything. If you would like to explain why you think Faulk was a two-way defender in Carolina, and/or explain why you think he will become one going forward, I will be happy to read it.
I read what you wrote and I typed what I typed. I respect you as a poster here Simon, but am going to speak bluntly.The bolded is part of my reply to someone who wanted to see Faulk play solid defense. This is what I actually posted.
Context is everything. If you would like to explain why you think Faulk was a two-way defender in Carolina, and/or explain why you think he will become one going forward, I will be happy to read it.
Majority of Faulk point produce is tied in his icetime at powerplay. 5on5 his produce dropp of significantly. I've posted here quite deep view about Faulk point produce at PP vs 5on5. I could try to find that post.I don’t get where this only a pp specialist narrative comes from. He scores much less on pp than Petro throughout his career. He played lots of minutes in all situations in Carolina. He had ups and downs but was generally very good there. He was moved around a lot last year and never got comfortable until the bubble where he was really good. He now has a defined role and it is reasonable to expect that he bounces back. But he ain’t likely to put up big point totals as that just isn’t his game.
I mean, bringing in a decidedly worse player than the one you are ostensibly replacing him with, immediately locking him into a long contract despite him "not having a place to play" for an entire year, and then trying to sign Pietrangelo to a long term deal anyway once a homeless Faulk was already locked in doesn't seem like a brilliant master plan.I can't add much to the discussion, since I didn't follow Faulk's career before he joined the Blues.
He wasn't impressive with us, but he didn't have a place to play.
It seemed that he was brought in to be Pietrangelo's replacement. Not as good as Pietrangelo, but younger, cheaper and available at the right time.
Was Armstrong just a damn fool in acquiring a guy who had been around the league a while, with an established track record? The same Armstrong who acquired Ryan O'Reilly a year earlier?
Or, to play devils advocate- did he already know that Pietro was 100% set on leaving STL at the end of his contract?I mean, bringing in a decidedly worse player than the one you are ostensibly replacing him with, immediately locking him into a long contract despite him "not having a place to play" for an entire year, and then trying to sign Pietrangelo to a long term deal anyway once a homeless Faulk was already locked in doesn't seem like a brilliant master plan.
Did Armstrong not realize that Faulk (or someone else) would be miscast in a role all year when bringing him in, or was it just OK to hamstring the roster that way during a season when they were trying to defend the title so that he had a safety net later in case he needed it?
What sort of mess would he have been in if Pietrangelo had accepted the offer? Or did he know that his offer was so bad that Pietrangelo would never accept it?
Armstrong has made a lot of nice moves, but IMO this wasn't one of them. To me it reeks of jumping at a flawed solution prematurely to avoid getting caught with your pants down, and then hoping it all would work out somehow. When the only thing that makes this move look good is losing arguably your best player a year later, something which Armstrong appeared to actively try to avoid, then it's not really much of a win.
And he spent months negotiating with him why then? For fun?Or, to play devils advocate- did he already know that Pietro was 100% set on leaving STL at the end of his contract?
Armstrong knew that Petro was likely leaving last summer. Remember his press conference when he talked about having a bunch of upper middle class players and no truly wealthy ones? Petro had asked for a number well beyond Army’s comfort level. We heard later that Petro lowered ask when Josi signed bc he had wanted a higher number. Army kept working it bc he wanted Petro back but he knew it was unlikely bc of how far apart they were. That is why he dealt for Faulk. Gave us #2rd if Petro left as expected. If Petro blinked they would have figured it out. Like when Buffalo blinked after we signed Bozo. That is how Army works. He only goes so far and he makes sure he has contingency in place if other guy doesn’t bend to his will.And he spent months negotiating with him why then? For fun?
Armstrong made a firm offer. He even moved on the original offer well after Faulk was signed. He met with him multiple times leading up to the FA period, including some sessions at the last minute. Those aren't really things that happen if the other party has already made it clear they're leaving, and if you know it's all a waste of time.
Optics, on both sides. Same way the Pujols negotiations went down. They were both about as likely to stay in STL once they hit free agency.And he spent months negotiating with him why then? For fun?
Or, to play devils advocate- did he already know that Pietro was 100% set on leaving STL at the end of his contract?
Knowing he's 100% set on leaving, as Mike said in the post I responded to, and knowing that it's possible/probable are two very different things.Armstrong knew that Petro was likely leaving last summer. Remember his press conference when he talked about having a bunch of upper middle class players and no truly wealthy ones? Petro had asked for a number well beyond Army’s comfort level. We heard later that Petro lowered ask when Josi signed bc he had wanted a higher number. Army kept working it bc he wanted Petro back but he knew it was unlikely bc of how far apart they were. That is why he dealt for Faulk. Gave us #2rd if Petro left as expected. If Petro blinked they would have figured it out. Like when Buffalo blinked after we signed Bozo. That is how Army works. He only goes so far and he makes sure he has contingency in place if other guy doesn’t bend to his will.
We can criticize trade for Faulk, Faulk contract (which seems about $1mm too high annually), or not meeting Petro number, but pretty clear this how it played out. He valued Faulk at 6-something more than Petro at 9-something bc it gave him ability to have more quality players. Adding Krug and Hoffman is consistent with his MO. Will it pan out this time? We don’t know yet but Army track record here is pretty good.
You don't need to do all that to have "optics."Optics, on both sides. Same way the Pujols negotiations went down. They were both about as likely to stay in STL once they hit free agency.
Well, we're certainly all entitled to our opinions. That's what keeps message boards afloat. I feel bad for jumping back in and beating on the already dead horse.You don't need to do all that to have "optics."
There's really nothing that supports the notion that Armstrong knew all the way back when he acquired Faulk that Pietrangelo was, for sure, gone. IMO, there's plenty that suggests otherwise.
Agreed. I don’t think he was 100% determined.Knowing he's 100% set on leaving, as Mike said in the post I responded to, and knowing that it's possible/probable are two very different things.
I actually agree that Armstrong approached Faulk as a safety blanket. I don't fault him for trying to cover his bases, but I do think this particular course of action was a flawed enough solution (for a number of reasons).
I'm not trying to bash Armstrong here. He has made plenty of good moves, and brought the team a Cup. I just don't think this particular move should be considered one of the good ones. It may end up working out regardless moving forward, but we shouldn't forget that it definitely didn't do the team any favors last year, and it had the potential to put Armstrong in a pretty awkward situation if Pietrangelo had stayed.