Red Wings acquire Faulk from Blues for Holl, draft picks
Hockeytown is getting a little deeper on defense.
At the bell on NHL Trade Deadline Day, the Detroit Red Wings acquired defenseman Justin Faulk from the St. Louis Blues. In exchange, the Blues are receiving defenseman Justin Holl, prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov, as well as a first-round and third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
UPDATE: The #RedWings have acquired Justin Faulk from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Justin Holl, Dmitiri Buchelnikov, Detroit’s 2026 1st round pick and San Jose’s 2026 3rd round pick.
Faulk is joining a team that’s hungry to end a decade-long playoff drought. The Red Wings have managed to stay up with the best in the Atlantic Division, but they need more experience if they want to be a serious threat in the playoffs.
Faulk is in the second-to-last year of a contract with a $6.5 million cap hit. The 33-year-old has managed to register 11 goals and 32 points for an 82-game pace of 44. It would mark the best output since he put up 50 points in 2022-23 in his fourth year with the club.
Drafted 37th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2010, Faulk has been a steady defender for over a decade. He represented the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in 2014 before setting a personal best of 49 points the following season. He’d briefly serve as the Hurricanes’ captain 2017-18 before joining the Blues two years later, where he’d go on to become a solid top-four blueliner.
Faulk has 141 goals and 490 points in 1,040 career regular-season games over 15 seasons. The three-time NHL all-star is also a two-time bronze medalist with the United States at the World Championship, last representing his nation in 2015.
Holl has spent the entire 2025-26 season with the Red Wings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. In 41 games, he has potted two goals and 12 assists for 14 points. The 34-year-old has appeared in 396 regular-season games in the NHL, scoring 13 goals and 82 assists for 95 points, with three assists in 25 postseason games.
Buchelnikov was taken by the Red Wings in the second round, 52nd overall, in the 2022 NHL Draft. He has spent the past two seasons entirely in the Kontinental Hockey League, playing for Vityaz Moscow Region and CSKA Moscow. This season, the winger has scored 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points in 39 games.
The Red Wings (35-20-7) are third in the Atlantic Division, three points back of first place. The Blues (23-29-9) are last in the Central, 12 points back of a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.