RHD solution

I'm a Kings fan. Carolina loses big time here. Every single player is worse than their replacement:

Faulk > Martinez
Faulk is a legitimate top paring defenseman (and Carolina's captain). Martinez is an ok #3/4 guy.

Skinner > Pearson
Skinner was the Calder trophy winner his first year in the league and has hit 30 goals 3 times and 20 goals 6 times (7 if you pro-rate the lockout shortened season). He's a legitimate top-line forward. Pearson has hit 20g once in his career and, while he has potential, he has yet to prove that he can be a consistent top-six forward.

McKeown > Fantenberg
McKeown is 22 and projected to be a very good defenseman. He's also rights protected for the next 4-5 years. Fantenberg will be 27 in October and played most of last season in Ontario. He will be a UFA at the end of this season.

There's no way Carolina even considers making this deal. Change Pearson to Toffoli, change Fantenberg to LaDue, upgrade the 3rd round pick to a 1st, and throw in a quality young prospect and maybe Waddell doesn't immediately hang up the phone on you.

You're right. What about....

Pearson
Martinez
Brodzinski
2019 1st

For

Faulk
Skinner (1,75mil retained)
RFA Valentin Zykov

Same problem

Skinner > Pearson
Faulk > Martinez
Zykov > Brodzinski (by a lot)

The 1st might offset one of the downgrades, but not all 3. Change Brodzinski to a good young prospect (Anderson-Dolan or Clague) and throw in LaDue and you might have a deal.

Your point is valid, but I think you under-value Martinez. He is a GOOD 3rd defenseman. Teams and coaches would kill to have a D man like him on their team. He's good offensively especially on the PP, he's the kinda player that will get the goal when needed most, and it doesn't get much better considering his defensive ability, he's also a great shot blocker. Faulk is good, really good offensive defenseman, but he's close to terrible defensively. In all honesty I wouldn't make this trade. I would not give up a Martinez to get a Faulk.

Martinez is a "good" 3rd defenseman on a defensively shallow team. He's an above-average 4th defenseman.

Leading the team/league in shot blocks isn't a good thing. It means that you spend so much time in your defensive zone that you have the opportunity to block that many shots. If you lead the team in blocked shots while also having a positive relative Corsi, then that's one thing. Martinez's relative Corsi was worst of the team's regular defenseman by a large margin. the other team gets A LOT of shot attempts while Martinez is on the ice. That's not good.

I'm a Martinez fan. Don't get me wrong. You just have to temper your expectations. If you're looking for him to play 2nd/3rd defenseman minutes (22+), then you're likely going to be disappointed.

I would trade Martinez for Faulk straight up in a heartbeat.