St. Louis Blues: Pat Maroon Finds New Home, Perfect Fit In Tampa
By Jason Martin
Former St. Louis Blues forward and St. Louisan Pat Maroon has signed a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning worth $900k, and it is a perfect fit.
The St. Louis Blues had a quiet offseason, resigning all of their former players, except one. The Tampa Bay Lightning announced that they have signed Pat Maroon to a one-year deal, which is a heartbreaker for Blues fans.
Maroon gave Blues fans so many great memories during his short time in St. Louis, and despite his departure, St. Louis fans should remember Maroon fondly and look forward to his return to St. Louis.
The 31-year-old forward signed with St. Louis on a one-year, $1.75 million deal, taking a hometown discount to play for his childhood team.
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What followed, was a game seven double-overtime game-winning goal against the Dallas Stars in the second round, and an eventual Stanley Cup championship.
His numbers were not something to write home about, but his ability to maintain the puck below the net and play alongside Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak was unmatched on the Blues roster.
Maroon netted 28 regular-season points and added seven more in 26 playoff games.
The Big Rig excelled in many different areas for St. Louis, but ran into a perfect storm in the offseason and was unable to resign with the club.
According to CapFriendly, the Blues have $1.9 million remaining in cap space and still need to make an offer to restricted free agent Ivan Barabshev. Assuming Barbashev commands at least $1.1 million, it would leave very little room for Maroon to sign.
It needs to be noted that the Blues were not picking exclusively between Barbashev and Maroon, but that general manager Doug Armstrong has his eye on the future.
St. Louis has young players like Robby Fabbri, Klim Kostin, Jordan Kyrou and Mackenzie MacEachern that will need ice time in the near future and locking up a player in his early 30s would have crippled their chance of regular playing time.
The loss of Maroon does change the Blues offensive dynamic. The team doesn’t have many big bodies that can possess the puck like Maroon can, but it does make the team quicker and more skilled.
As for the fit in Tampa, it is almost the perfect scenario for both the Lightning and Maroon. He will be reunited with head coach Jon Cooper who coached Maroon during his time with the St. Louis Bandits.
The Bolts were lacking a big body who can throw around his weight, and should slot in nicely on the third or fourth line.
When the Blues acquired him last summer, fans often pointed to some big names that Maroon played with like Connor McDavid and Taylor Hall and could get the chance to play with more superstars like Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov.
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When Maroon comes back to the Enterprise Center on November 19, we should expect his ovation to be on par to when David Freese and Albert Pujols returned to Busch Stadium after contributing to championships.