MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Justin Faulk could come away with his 12th season in the NHL knowing he had a good season.
The defenseman set a career-high with 50 points, besting his previous high of 49 set with Carolina in 2014-15, and his 39 assists were also a career-high, also set in 2014-15 when he had 34.
But Faulk, who is a straight shooter when it comes to his interviews, called the season disappointing, including his own.
The Blues will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 31-year-old arrived in 2019, and they will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season, and Faulk isn't happy about it, and he outlines in his end-of-season media session what went wrong and why it went wrong.
For those of the faint of heart, turn away if you don't want to read a dose of reality, but Faulk points to what needs to happen and who needs to make it happen for the Blues to turn back to being a playoff-driven franchise:
Still fresh, but initial thoughts on season and not being in playoffs:
A disappointing season for us as a group. We failed, didn't live up to expectations. It's not what we envisioned as a group. Some things slipped. Just disappointment and failure from the guys. As individuals, we didn't pull our weight, myself included, didn't do what I needed to do to put ourselves to be in a position to be in playoffs and playing hockey today. We just need to move forward and not let that happen. Got to keep the standards high around here and make sure that it's known that this isn't OK and it's not who we are as a franchise and who we want to be and not be comfortable with this and know it can't happen.
Different group to a certain degree, but last year, you were a 109-point team and slipped to 81, when you look at it as a whole, where was the difference on ice in that point gap:
I'm not a believer in stuff is just on ice. I think there's more that needed to happen. I think our group let some stuff slip, let our habits slip, how we carry ourselves day to day. We need to be grown men in here, be mature, show up, do your work. That's in practice, that's in the gym, it's off the ice, it's just working hard and knowing what you're asked to do and what it is. Then the on-ice performance comes. There's a whole series of things that need to happen before you even go play a game. I think the points was a reflection of our inconsistencies as probably professionals this year. It doesn't take much in this league. You look at teams that think that they're turning the corner, who's going to be the team that's not, right? You look in the East, there's a couple teams that are young and think that they're ready to take that next step. To get in, you've got to pull someone out, right? And that was us this year. We fell out. There's other teams competing and always trying to get to the top. You have to still be prepared as a group to ... I don't see that that's where we're going. We went south this year but that's not the mindset of this organization and what it is. You can get back up to that level that we were at last year. You just need to carry yourself day to day as a group and have that foundation and go from there, and that's when you have that chance, but inconsistences put us in this position.
You're someone that we see as a professional, did you see that early on in the year what you just talked about? Was that alarming you saw people not carrying themselves?
It's a spiraling thing, right? It can go fast. It was ugly at times this year, right? I think early on, we obviously had that long stretch, the eight-games or whatever that we didn't win, but it's just how at times. I wouldn't necessarily say that you see stuff every day. It builds over time, right? And then it's easy to see stuff when it doesn't go well. Winning covers a lot of things. Cracks get exposed when you start lose. It's just being competitive. It starts with training camp and practices and going from there. The group, like I said, we need to find a way to be competitive. It's not just in games, like I was saying. You've got to go about it every day and go from there. Then you give yourselves a chance.
Did losing some of the veteran leaders midseason help at all? Picked up some momentum late getting new faces or did you need some of those veteran voices throughout the season:
Losing those guys didn't help us win games, that's for sure. Those guys, they're great hockey players, they're really good hockey players and they're good human beings. We put ourselves in a position to lose them and like I said, doing that definitely ... we won games ... maybe take a peek at who we won those games against. I don't know how competitive we were against the quality teams and the teams that were fighting for playoff spots every night. That seemed to me that we lost a few of those games. There's not a consolation for me. I don't have those. We failed. What happened down the stretch to pick up points and stuff like that, it's fun to win hockey games, that's for sure. It makes it easier to come to work every day, but it doesn't really mean much when you're sitting here in this position today.
How about your season, setting a career high in points:
The numbers maybe just sugarcoat if you're not watching the games. I didn't pull my weight. I'm very much part of the reason why we're here today too. I didn't play good enough hockey to help the team win enough games. There's no other way around that. I can be better. I know I can. I need to be. I've got to be part of the solution and make sure when we come back, I have my game where it needs to be and go from there. I can't be in the position to get on guys and talk about having your stuff together if you don't have your own, right, if I don't have my stuff taken care of. I need to make sure that I'm ready to go and have a quality season. It starts in the summer and Day 1 of camp and just being here every day putting in the work and show up for the guys and make sure I pull my weight and go from there.
Is it an over-simplification to say that the team overall lacks work ethic off the ice?
Yeah. To say lack of work ethic off the ice just because ... I know what guys do and what guys go through to be in this position. You don't get in this league by not working hard. You don't sustain yourself by not working hard off the ice. There's a lot that goes into it. It might look that way, but I say that by being a pro and carrying yourself, there's a ton if things that go into that. It's not just showing up and working hard in the gym. It can be anything. There's so many facets that go into that and what it takes to get in this locker room and be an NHL hockey player. I would say yeah, it's an over-simplification, and I'm not trying to muddy it up and make it more complicated than it is, but I guess it sometimes comes to be a factor.
Is there an example of the other factors talking about being a pro?
There's a laundry list, but it's how you carry yourself day to day. It's who you are as a person, are you a good teammate, are you coming in, do you care about your guys, are you checking in how they're doing, are you making yourself available to your teammates, whatever it is. Are you working hard, are you eating right, are you doing all these other things? Are you a pleasure (to be around)? There's a lot. There's habits. Everyone has different habits and what are they, but to be in any position and be successful at anything, and it's not just hockey, you have to have good habits, and sometimes they can slip. It's to each guy to make sure that your stuff is in order and your house is in order to make this organization to where it needs to be.
Win three in a row, O'Reilly gets traded, then lose eight of nine, why was that so tough on the team:
Well, we put ourselves in that position to get traded because of our inconsistent play. And then that continued, right? Why was it do hard that O'Reilly got traded? Why did that have an impact on the group? I think it shows to who he is and what he meant to this team. He's a phenomenal, phenomenal human being. It starts there, a great player obviously too, but he's a really, really good person. Meant a lot to guys. He looked after guys, brought the group together, kept things together and it was a hit to guys. Certain guys have different relationships with him, but at the same time, you see your captain get traded, a lot of guys have been through some stuff, winning with him, or just him helping you get in the league, whatever it was. Each guy had a different relationship with him, but when the captain gets traded, I think it kind of signaled I think to us that maybe a little bit of a wake-up call. You win five, you lose five ... well if you just think about the winning five, your team's OK, you can battle through it, you can grind, you can get there, but maybe it's a little bit of a wake-up call that we weren't as good as we thought we were.