Report: Oilers start contract talks with Patrick Maroon
By baggedmilk
6 years agoAccording to TSN’s Ryan Rishaug, the Edmonton Oilers have opened up contract negotiations with Patrick Maroon who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
Since coming over to the Oilers at the deadline back in 2016, Pat Maroon has elevated his play to a new level that I’m not sure anyone would have expected. In 97 games played, Pat Maroon has put up 35 goals and 21 assists for 56 points which accounts for 41% of his NHL totals in less than half of the total games played. That’s outstanding production for a guy that was in and out of the lineup at the end of his tenure in Anaheim. So what’s the deal with the negotiations so far?
From Rishaug:
“It could be a little bit tricky because Maroon is coming off a career year. If you’re the Oilers you probably want to say, ‘we need to see if you can do that again.’ At the same time, if he does it again the number goes up even more, so you’re in that zone where you probably need to prognosticate a little bit, figure out if he’s going to be able to do it again and get him signed sooner than later. That term and dollars are going to be a little tricky.”
For the Oilers, it makes sense that they would want to get something done sooner than later if they’re expecting Pat Maroon to be able to repeat last year’s performance. The gamble, if there is one, is that Pat Maroon turns 30 in April and likely understands that this could be his last chance for a big payout which means that he’ll want to make bank. Would he want to get a contract done before the season starts? If he does, ol’ Patty could end up leaving money on the table if he goes ham on the scoresheet again. On the flip side, last season could end up as an outlier which means he wouldn’t be able to command as much as he could right now if his production sags at all. It’s an interesting dilemma for a very useful piece of the Oilers’ roster.
What else did Rishaug say?
“That would be doable for Patrick Maroon if I’m the Edmonton Oilers for sure. I’m not sure that Maroon’s camp would necessarily agree. They’re looking at the total he had last year and the fact that he’s playing with Connor McDavid and has been a good compliment to Connor McDavid. They might be looking for north of $4. I’m just spitballing numbers here. But somewhere between that $3.25 and $4.5 probably.”
In the end, it seems like both sides want to play ball and that a deal is likely to happen. That said, Chiarelli has to be careful with how he dishes out dollars in the McDrai era. With the dynamic duo taking up as much cap real estate as they are the Oilers are going to need to find some bargain contracts for risk of pushing other valuable pieces off of the roster.
With Kris Russell clearly not taking a hometown discount on his new deal, you have to wonder what’s the likelihood (if any) of Patrick Maroon doing it? Is playing with McDavid and having a chance at winning a Cup worth a few dollars off? That hasn’t been the case for the most recent signees. From where I blog, I think revolving door on the Oilers roster is just about to kick into overdrive. What do you guys think?
Maroon’s NHL Career So Far
| Regular Season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 2011-12 | Anaheim Ducks | NHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2011-12 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 75 | 32 | 42 | 74 | 120 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2012-13 | Norfolk Admirals | AHL | 64 | 26 | 24 | 50 | 139 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2012-13 | Anaheim Ducks | NHL | 13 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 | -1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2013-14 | Anaheim Ducks | NHL | 62 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 101 | 11 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 38 |
| 2014-15 | Anaheim Ducks | NHL | 71 | 9 | 25 | 34 | 82 | -5 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 6 |
| 2015-16 | Anaheim Ducks | NHL | 56 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 54 | -13 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2015-16 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 16 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 34 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2016-17 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 81 | 27 | 15 | 42 | 95 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 28 |
| NHL Totals | 301 | 61 | 74 | 135 | 378 | 42 | 12 | 14 | 26 | 72 | |||
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