The sun rises in the East, sets in the West, and Justin Faulk plays 20 minutes a night.
Those have all been constants for what seems like forever now, even if Faulk is only entering his seventh season with the St. Louis Blues.
Faulk has become a consistent constant on the blue line in St. Louis during his six seasons with the Blues. After averaging a career-low 20:34 per game in the 2019-20 season, he's gotten much closer to his career average of 23 minutes in recent years.
The 33-year-old blueliner is coming off a season in which he averaged 22:27 per game -- up 29 seconds from the year prior -- while recording 32 points (4 goals, 28 assists) in 78 games. The growth of Colton Parayko has helped form quite the dynamic duo on the right side for the Blues in recent years, and that continued this offseason with the trade for Logan Mailloux.
The Blues now have three right-handed defensemen that they can rely on. Parayko is on the top pair, Faulk has been on the second, and Mailloux will likely start the season on the third pair.
But the season might not end that way.
If Mailloux proves himself early on, we could see him taking some playing time away from Parayko or Faulk. Both blueliners are getting up there in age while the youngster is in his first season with the Blues.
We should still expect more of the same from Faulk, though.
He's averaged 22:38 per game during his six seasons in St. Louis and only missed our games last season. He can play in all situation for a Blues team that is looking to build on a playoff appearance last season.