TSN’s Ryan Rishaug sends out a tweet this morning that says there’ve been some preliminary talks regarding a new contract for Pat Maroon, there’s interest on both sides to get things done, and the term/$$$ will be “tricky”.
I like that both camps are digging into this early and I’m hoping they can sign a new deal sooner than later. I’ll try to keep this short.
Now Lowetide believes if Maroon buries another 25 this year, he’ll be up around the $4.5M mark whereas David Staples is of the opinion that if Maroon goes for the “hometown discount”, that the Oilers might be able to get him down around $3.25M but there’ll need to be some term AND a no-trade clause to discourage the Oilers from dealing Maroon half-way into his new deal to a bottom dweller like NJ.
The analytics community has predictably hopped all over this as well:
Bad contracts to Lucic, Russell, and Maroon would be really, really difficult to overcome.
— @ryanbatty.bsky.social (@ryan_batty) September 22, 2017
his scoring falls off the map. Peter needs to be careful. pic.twitter.com/9AlUIjCxyf
— Woodguy (@Woodguy55) September 22, 2017
Well at least with Chiarelli leading negotiations I don't have to worry about Maroon getting both too much term & too much money…
— Arch (@Archaeologuy) September 22, 2017
Not many players have been able to find themselves consistently on the wing of Connor McDavid’s line. In fact, Pat Maroon has been the most consistent. It’s common knowledge that these generational types are hard to find linemates for. Just ask the Penguins.
The good thing for Maroon AND the Oilers is that the coach and GM are big fans of his play and his demeanor off the ice. To add to that, he makes sure that no liberties are taken with Connor and he loves playing in Edmonton.
Something else that works in Maroon’s favor is the Oilers LW depth going into the season:
- Maroon
- Lucic
- Jokinen
- Caggiula
- Slepyshev
- Khaira
- Kailer Yamamoto (Capfriendly has him listed as a C/LW)
- Brad Malone
- Kirill Maksimov
- Tyler Benson
Who’s coming up through the system that could replace Maroon in 2018/19? Drake Caggiula? Kailer Yamamoto? I don’t see it.
Big Rig could name his dollar and Chiarelli, since he tends to overpay for the players he likes, would probably do it. Not always the smartest choice but he gets his men that way.
So what happens to Nuge?
It depends on the price point at which Maroon signs for, no?
I know that the brass really like Nuge and with the new faceoff violation penalty being “introduced” teams are going to need more than one guy per line capable of taking a faceoff, but they really like Maroon too and it makes me wonder if they’d be willing to part with a high-end prospect like Jesse Puljujarvi to keep both of them.
“Puljujarvi doesn’t make enough to balance the books if he’s traded alone!!!”
I’m well aware and that’s why the team trading for him would have to take a contract, Andrej Sekera’s or Kris Russell’s.
“But clauses…”
NMC and NTC are like suggestions. Just because they’re in the contract doesn’t mean they can’t be waived.
The reason I said Puljujarvi is because Chiarelli has a track history of dealing young players who have draft pedigree and there’s this Yamamoto kid making life difficult for everyone involved.
- Taylor Hall
- Tyler Seguin
- Phil Kessel
- Blake Wheeler
- Nail Yakupov
I’m sure you’re all familiar with these players. Most of them have gone on to have blossoming careers with other teams because Chiarelli moved them. By the beginning of 2018/19, will that list include Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Jesse Puljujarvi though?
So what do you do?
If I’m the GM, I’m probably dealing Nuge and hoping for a deal like the Sergachev/Drouin deal that took place this summer. There are some other RFAs that need to get paid and long-term it’s not in the Oilers best plans to have a $6M player in the bottom 6 unless he’s doing what Phil Kessel does for the Penguins aka scores 35+ a year.
I know that Carolina needs a top 2 centre and Arizona needs one as well. They have lots of cap room and some nice prospects too… Just saying.
I like Puljujarvi enough to hold onto him and see him through another contract. So I don’t want to trade him. There’s just too much potential there to justify dealing him before he turns 20 years old.
Patrick Maroon was/is just the right player for the Edmonton Oilers who came in and just the right time for both him and the team. When Chiarelli brought him in the team was really lacking the kind of player Maroon is. His hard-working, take-no-prisoners, hit-everyone-in-sight style really invigorated the team and the fanbase.
And it still does today.
I really like him as a player and a person. He says the right things and he plays the right way for me and I’d have no problem see the Oilers give him a 4-5 year deal WITH a NMC/NTC (Modify it how you like) worth a $4M per year.
That said, the Oilers probably look at Patrick Eaves deal ($9.45M over 3 years) and uses that to go from. Eaves is 4 years older mind you and that contract takes him to his 36th day of birth and Maroon is only 29 as we speak.
I dunno, feels like I’m all over the place here. I like Maroon and Puljujarvi more than Nuge at this point but if there’s a way to keep all three I’ll be ecstatic. It’s going to be a difficult task for Chiarelli and Co but I have faith the best thing for the team will be done. So I’ll leave it at that.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
