Patrick Maroon Comes Home, Signs With Hometown Team

Fee agent left wing Patrick Maroon was maybe the best free agent left in NHL free agency. On Tuesday, he went off the free agent market and signed with his hometown team the St. Louis Blues. Maroon, 30, went to Oakville High School in St. Louis. He's always wanted to play for his hometown team. Now he gets his wish. In an interview a few years ago after a game against the Blues, he teared up seeing his son's reaction to him scoring a goal. Maroon said that he didn't get to see them as much. He now can see his family more too.

Maroon, signs a one-year contract worth $1.75 million. When the Blues have more money in January, they will offer him a contract extension. The Blues could have draft Maroon back in June 2007, but instead they drafted Anthony Peluso in the sixth round. Right after Peluso was drafted, the Philadelphia Flyers drafted Maroon at 161 overall. He never got the play for the Flyers though, they ended up trading him to the Anaheim Ducks on November 21, 2010 with right wing David Laliberte for center Rob Bordson, and defenseman Danny Syvret. After not really getting much of a chance on the Ducks in 2011-2012, or 2012-2013 he finally got a chance in 2013-2014. Maroon played in 62 games, scoring 11 goals, with 18 assists, 29 points, and was a plus 11.

The next season, he got 34 points playing in 71 games. Maroon helped lead the Ducks to the Stanley Cup Finals, even though they lost to the New York Rangers. Maroon was one of the Ducks' best playoffs during their playoff run. He played in 16 games, scoring 7 goals, with 4 assists, 11 points, and was a plus 4. A few seasons later, Maroon was traded to the Edmonton Oilers. He became a line-mate for Connor McDavid, and had a career year in 2016-2017. Maroon played in a career high 81 games, scoring 27 goals, 15 assists, 42 points, and was a plus 13.

Last season at the trade deadline the Oilers traded Maroon to the New Jersey Devils for center J.D. Dubek, and a 3rd round pick in the 2019 NHL draft. In his short time playing for the Devils, the did well enough for make them interested in bringing him back.

Maroon will be entering his eight season in the NHL. His overall in his career he's played in 375 games, with 78 goals, 100 assists, 178 points, 451 penalty minutes, and is a plus 12. In the playoffs, Maroon has played in 47 games, with 13 goals, 14 assists, 27 points, and is a plus 2.

What does Maroon bring to the Blues that they were maybe missing? Maroon brings the Blues the ability to create time and space for his teammates. Maroon being 6'3 allows him to do that. He also adds toughness and grit. If a player wants to make a run at Vladimir Tarasenko or even Alex Pietrangelo then they might want to think about dealing with Maroon. Last season players were able to get to them. I think that hurt the Blues when that happened, because the Blues need both of those players. You can't have team's going after your top players and expect to win.

Maroon may not have a Connor McDavid to help him on the Blues, but he can still help their team in lots of ways. If Robby Fabbri needs help coming back healthy, Maroon even takes some of the pressure of him. He can play on any of the top lines, even though at best he's probably a third line player.

Maroon will become the third St. Louis born player to play for the Blues in franchise history. The other two players from St. Louis who have played for the Blues are Cam Janssen, and Christ Butler.