As soon as the Carolina Hurricanes signed Jake Gardiner to a four-year contract it seemed to be a matter of when, and not if, they made a move involving defender Justin Faulk.

Faulk’s name has been mentioned in trade speculation for years now, and with his contract up after this season and the Hurricanes suddenly having an even bigger log-jam on defense the time seems right for that long-rumored trade to finally go through.

According to multiple reports on Monday, the Anaheim Ducks may be the team emerging as the favorite to land him.

Elliotte Friedman reported that the Ducks and Hurricanes were having intense trade talks and that a potential deal would depend on Faulk’s willingness to waive his no-trade clause to play in Anaheim. The Ducks are one of the teams listed on his limited no-trade clause. After spending almost his entire career playing on a losing, rebuilding team and finally getting a taste of success this past season it might be awfully difficult to give that up to go to a team that was one of the league’s worst a year ago.

Friedman’s report was followed by Luke DeCock of the News & Observer Tweeting that he believes there is a deal between the two teams in place and that it wouldn’t be a surprise if Anaheim’s Ondrej Kase — a player the Hurricanes have long been interested in — was one of the players going the other way.

That would be a fairly significant score for the Hurricanes. Faulk is an unrestricted free agent after this season and might be a luxury they don’t really need. If there is a deal to be made that can improve the forwards, it would make sense to pursue it. Kase, 23, has been limited by injury the past two years but has shown 25-goal potential, posted outstanding underlying numbers, and would be a great fit to a rapidly improving group of forwards.

As for the Ducks … well. It’s hard to see the motivation here. Faulk is a fine player and brings plenty of positives to any team he would play for. But the Ducks aren’t a Justin Faulk away from being good again. This is a team that pretty badly needs to overhaul its roster and get younger with an eye toward the future, while also finding a way to add more young, skilled forwards. Not subtract them.

The Ducks already have a lot of money tied up in Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, and Josh Manson on defense, a core that hasn’t really done a good enough job insulating their goalies from shots. Will Faulk be good enough to drastically improve that? He is known more for his ability to provide offense than his ability to suppress shots.

Given where the Ducks organization is right now Kase just seems to be the type of player that would have more long-term value to them as a young, still cheap, potential top-six forward. The recent injury history is a concern, but this team needs someone that can score goals up front more than it needs another late 20s defender that may not fix their actual defensive woes.

MORE:
• ProHockeyTalk’s 2019 NHL free agency tracker
• Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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