Maroon named 2nd star of the week, making strong argument to be protected

With what is likely the best week of his career, Patrick Maroon has been named the NHL’s second star of the week.

A smile like that deserves every star of the week he can get.

Patrick Maroon arguably had the best week of his career. In four games, the big-bodied winger potted a hat trick against the Boston Bruins to go alongside a two-goal game against the Ottawa Senators. He also potted an assist in the first game of the week against the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Maroon has shown that he has the ability to play on the teams top line alongside McDavid. Not only that, he has shown the ability to be a player that drives possession as well as goal scoring when on the ice. 

To put it in layman’s terms, he has played over 30 minutes of 5v5 TOI with 15 teammates. f those 15 teammates, 15 of them have a better Corsi as a percentage with Maroon, than without him. In total, 14 of those 15 players also have a better goals-for percentage.

It is clear that he is making his teammates around him better. 

At this point in the season, Maroon has already scored four more goals than he has previously scored in a full NHL season. 

During one of the Oilers broadcasts this last week, Maroon spoke about how he is playing with confidence in his game. One thing Maroon noted and something that I had not seen before was that he was actually a high-end goal scorer during his time in the AHL. In 2011-2012, Maroon scored 32 goals in 75 games with the Syracuse Crunch.

One thing is clear and that is the Oilers need to make Patrick Maroon one of the players they protect in the expansion draft.