In a salary cap era, teams really do need to wonder if they can have too much of a good thing. After all, when scarcity is involved, too much of a good thing can mean not having enough of different, needed thing.
That sure seemed to be the case heading into 2018-19, as the Dougie Hamilton trade gave the Carolina Hurricanes three viable right-handed defensemen in Hamilton, Justin Faulk, and Brett Pesce. (Actually, four, if you think reasonably highly of Trevor van Riemsdyk.)
For a long time, it seemed like something had to give. After all, for as strong as the Hurricanes’ defense corps was, they couldn’t score enough goals, and their goalies couldn’t stop enough pucks.
… And then their goalies did start to make those saves, and after the Nino Niederreiter trade, the offense finally started to get the bounces they needed to generate those precious goals. While Carolina ran out of steam against Boston in Round 3, the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs served as a display for their strengths on defense, as much as anything else.
So maybe the Hurricanes shouldn’t mess with a good thing?
That’s the interesting thought that crops up as The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun notes (sub required) that the Hurricanes have already reached out to Faulk’s representatives about a possible contract extension.
Faulk, 27, will see his bargain $4.833 million cap hit expire after the 2019-20 season, so the Hurricanes are in a spot where they’d certainly like to determine the veteran defenseman’s future. If both sides want to stick together, then why not hash out that cost certainty as soon as possible?
Again, if you walked out of a time machine and told me about this development in, say, October 2018, I would have been surprised. My feeling was that Hamilton would push Faulk out as the Hurricanes’ top power play QB, and that Faulk’s short contract term would make Carolina anxious to get a return, likely for a top-six forward.
Much of that turned out to be incorrect. For better or worse, the Hurricanes stuck with Faulk as their PP QB, and Hamilton still managed to score 18 goals in 2018-19.
Perhaps the Hurricanes simply don’t like the potential value they’d get back for Faulk, even though it’s easy to envision a swap where, say, Faulk would go to the Florida Panthers for sniper Mike Hoffman. As just one example.
But maybe that’s the path for Dougie Hamilton, instead?
Hamilton’s 25, and his $5.75M cap hit only runs through 2020-21. If Faulk gets some term, he’d join a group of locked-up defensemen in Jaccob Slavin (25, $5.3M cap hit through 2024-25), Calvin de Haan (28, $4.55M through 2021-22), and Brett Pesce (24, $4.025M through 2023-24). Maybe the Hurricanes would settle on those four as their true core – along with, perhaps a prospect like Haydn Fleury or two – and Hamilton could eventually be lost in the shuffle?
Again, having too many good defensemen is an incredibly rare “problem” in the NHL, and the Hurricanes’ 2018-19 season argues that it’s not really a problem, at all. The Hurricanes could even just by themselves time it so that they can make the most beneficial, and least panic-soaked, deal possible, whether that meant trading Hamilton, Pesce, Faulk, or someone else.
And, really, the Hurricanes can’t even officially extend Faulk until July, and things could change between now and then, particularly since NHL teams love making trades during draft weekend (June 21-22).
Overall, it’s a pretty interesting team-building situation to watch. If you were running the Hurricanes, how would you approach these situations? Is Faulk worth keeping around? Answering these questions correctly could be key in Carolina making sure that they don’t enter another playoff drought after emphatically ending their last one with that run in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.
