Canes’ Faulk on track despite missing spot on US Team

Justin Faulk’s hockey path has been a steady ascent since being drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2010.

The defenseman won an NCAA championship with Minnesota-Duluth as a freshman. He played for the U.S. national team in the World Junior Championship and later in World Championships. He was a U.S. Olympian in 2014 at the Sochi Games and has been named an NHL All-Star the past two seasons.

But Faulk, 24, was left off the U.S. team for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey, which may be disappointing but did not leave him miffed or feeling he had been snubbed by USA Hockey.

“Obviously I’d want to be there, and I think I could help the team,” Faulk said. “I think I’m a good enough player where I could play in that. But they went in a different direction. That’s their decision, and you have to respect it.

“I want to be there, and I wish I was. But I’ll just watch it and focus on what’s going on here and get to have a full training camp with the guys and get ready for the season.”

Added motivation, perhaps?

Faulk smiled, saying, “If you start saying that, it sounds like you’re not motivated before, right? You want to have a good season, regardless. I just hope to have a good year and hopefully they do well, too, in that tournament.”

Faulk, beginning his sixth NHL season, is coming off a year he called “OK.” Faulk scored 12 goals – all on the power play, an interesting anomaly – in the first 30 games of the season, then finished with a career-high 16.

“I was all right and started well, then didn’t play good probably in January for a stretch – too long,” he said. “Then I tried to get out of that funk and started to play a little better. And then ...”

In a Feb. 11 practice at Raleigh Center Ice, Faulk and forward Brad Malone battled for the puck along the boards. Their legs tangled, and Faulk fell awkwardly, suffering what he said was a high ankle sprain.

Faulk missed six games, then returned for a Feb. 23 home game against the Philadelphia Flyers, playing 17 minutes in a 3-1 win. But that was rushing it, a mistake. Faulk would miss another 11 games.

“With that injury, you never know,” Faulk said. “One guy it can take a week and another guy take four months. I tried to get back as soon as I could. With injuries you know how you feel.”

By the time he returned, the Canes had traded captain Eric Staal, forward Kris Versteeg and defenseman John-Michael Liles. Forward Andrej Nestrasil was out for the season with a back injury.

Faulk’s absence – the Canes were 6-6-5 in the games he missed – did allow rookie defensemen Noah Hanifin, Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce to get more minutes and bigger roles, which could pay dividends this season.

It’s possible Faulk could be named team captain, succeeding Staal. Or, he said, it could be a “lead-by-committee thing,” with alternate captains and shared leadership.

Faulk, asked if he would be comfortable wearing the “C,” said, “Yeah. It would be a huge honor if that ever presents itself. I don’t want to say it doesn’t change anything, because there is a heavy weight you have to carry with that as the designated leader of the team. But at the same time you have to come to the rink, whether you have that letter or not, and be a good pro and put in the work.”

Faulk said a good, strong start to the season is a must – for the Canes, for himself. “It puts you on the right path,” he said.

An ascending path.

This story was originally published September 12, 2016 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Canes’ Faulk on track despite missing spot on US Team."