Player Discussion What to do with Maroon?

[McTrashBoat]

Is anyone else worried he might get claimed by Vegas?

big time
he'd be a prime candidate to be stolen from us

especially with his low salary

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

big time
he'd be a prime candidate to be stolen from us

especially with his low salary

Won't he be protected? I mean I probably protect him over Pouliot at this point.

 

[Soundwave]

I'd protect

RNH, Lucic, Maroon, Draisaitl, Eberle

Sekera, Larsson, Klefbom

McDavid, Nurse, Puljujarvi are exempt.

If Davidson comes back and tears it up though, we could have a tougher choice to make.

Vegas can have Pouliot, I'd be fine with his salary gone and Caggiula or someone else in.

 

[RipsADrive]

Can't leave Maroon unprotected if he keeps up his play.

It sucks to lose Davidson but I'd rather try to replace him than give up that chemistry with McDavid.

 

[McPuritania]

Is anyone else worried he might get claimed by Vegas?

If we expose Maroon over Pouliot we deserve to lose our good players. It would be straight up stupid to leave Maroon exposed.

 

[McNurse]

We can't lose Big Rig such a fan of his game, the guy can't skate well at all but his possession game and cycling game is exactly what we need, I would keep him over Pouliot any day of the week

 

[snipes]

If we expose Maroon over Pouliot we deserve to lose our good players. It would be straight up stupid to leave Maroon exposed.

Agreed. I would expose Pouliot over Maroon without hesitation. He's also 2 years younger than Pouliot, the chemistry between Maroon and McDavid is undeniable.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Agreed. I would expose Pouliot over Maroon without hesitation. He's also 2 years younger than Pouliot, the chemistry between Maroon and McDavid is undeniable.

And he's vastly cheaper.

 

[Soundwave]

Pouliot wasn't even a Chia signing. Maroon was a Chia aquisition.

I think Pouliot is definitely not being protected. Not sure why it would even be assumed Pouliot was going to be protected.

That last spot is between Maroon/Reinhart/Davidson.

 

[Draiskull]

I'd protect

RNH, Lucic, Maroon, Draisaitl, Eberle

Sekera, Larsson, Klefbom

McDavid, Nurse, Puljujarvi are exempt.

If Davidson comes back and tears it up though, we could have a tougher choice to make.

Vegas can have Pouliot, I'd be fine with his salary gone and Caggiula or someone else in.

We get to protect 7F not 5 if we are protecting 3D

No one on D is coming close to making us go the 4F-4D route..
We will be protecting 7F and Maroon will certainly be one of them.

 

[Soundwave]

We get to protect 7F not 5 if we are protecting 3D

No one on D is coming close to making us go the 4F-4D route..
We will be protecting 7F and Maroon will certainly be one of them.

Ah ok, so this is pretty easy then.

 

[snipes]

We get to protect 7F not 5 if we are protecting 3D

No one on D is coming close to making us go the 4F-4D route..
We will be protecting 7F and Maroon will certainly be one of them.

Especially with Nurses emergence it's hard to see Davidson forcing us into a 4-4 situation, hopefully we can re-sign Russell on a favourable deal. Eventually Nurse will move up into our top 4 next year and Russell would an excellent 3rd pairing D man for us.

If it's between Maroon/Davidson/Pouliot. I'm taking Maroon, I doubt Vegas even takes Davidson, they'd likely take Pouliot if we left him exposed.

Nuge, Drai, Lucic, Maroon, Eberle, Kassian, Pitlick
Sekera, Larsson, Klefbom
Talbot

Re-sign Russell after the expansion draft. My debate would be Kassian/Pouliot for a spot. I almost lean towards Kassian because by protecting Kassian, Pouliot should be the obvious choice for Vegas. So protecting Kassian also protects Davidson, especially if Davidson hardly plays this year.

 

[La Bamba]

It literally comes down to Davidson or 3 of Maroon/Pouliot/Kassian/Khaira for protection.

I would personally protect Maroon, Kassian, and Khaira and leave Pouliot and Davidson. I'd pray that Vegas bites on Pouliot so we clear 4M in cap space. Pouliot could be intriguing to them because he will only have 2 years left on his deal, helps them hit the cap floor, and gives them an immediately need to be more competitive in the short term.

But then again, all this speculation could be a moot point since Chia and other GMs will most likely do a ton of wheeling and dealing beforehand.

 

[Draiskull]

I'd protect

RNH, Lucic, Maroon, Draisaitl, Eberle

Sekera, Larsson, Klefbom

McDavid, Nurse, Puljujarvi are exempt.

If Davidson comes back and tears it up though, we could have a tougher choice to make.

Vegas can have Pouliot, I'd be fine with his salary gone and Caggiula or someone else in.

Especially with Nurses emergence it's hard to see Davidson forcing us into a 4-4 situation, hopefully we can re-sign Russell on a favourable deal. Eventually Nurse will move up into our top 4 next year and Russell would an excellent 3rd pairing D man for us.

If it's between Maroon/Davidson/Pouliot. I'm taking Maroon, I doubt Vegas even takes Davidson, they'd likely take Pouliot if we left him exposed.

Nuge, Drai, Lucic, Maroon, Eberle, Kassian, Pitlick
Sekera, Larsson, Klefbom
Talbot

Re-sign Russell after the expansion draft. My debate would be Kassian/Pouliot for a spot. I almost lean towards Kassian because by protecting Kassian, Pouliot should be the obvious choice for Vegas. So protecting Kassian also protects Davidson, especially if Davidson hardly plays this year.

Our 2 most likely candidates are Davidson and Brossoit.. Hopefully neither gets a big NHL sample size for Vegas to consider them and we lose a Fayne or Benning instead.

 

[McFlyingV]

Our 2 most likely candidates are Davidson and Brossoit.. Hopefully neither gets a big NHL sample size for Vegas to consider them and we lose a Fayne or Benning instead.

Benning is exempt, and I can't see any world where Brossoit gets taken. There will be better goaltenders available.

Most likely to be taken imo are Pouliot, Reinhart, or Davidson.

As of now I would protect:

LD, Nuge, Eberle, Lucic, Maroon, Pitlick (if he keeps it up), Khaira or Kassian, Sekera, Klef, Lars. I think Pouliot's a good player, but I get the feeling management isn't as high on him and might be willing to give him up just to get the money off the books, especially if they really want to go big fish hunting with Burns. I really hope Davidson isn't picked up though. He's a guy that is going to be a very solid Dman in this league, who would be a warrior for us and imo would be someone who would take a discount to stay here long-term close to home.

 

[La Bamba]

Benning is exempt, and I can't see any world where Brossoit gets taken. There will be better goaltenders available.

Most likely to be taken imo are Pouliot, Reinhart, or Davidson.

I'd be ecstatic if they took Reinhart. It would be like them taking fools gold.

It was an awful trade and I just want him out of this organization ala Yakupov.

 

[snipes]

Our 2 most likely candidates are Davidson and Brossoit.. Hopefully neither gets a big NHL sample size for Vegas to consider them and we lose a Fayne or Benning instead.

Benning would be exempt. I think Letestu or Pouliot is more likely. Davidson isn't really known around the league, I'd think Vegas will view other options ahead of Davidson, even more likely now with him missing significant time.

 

[McFlyingV]

I'd be ecstatic if they took Reinhart. It would be like them taking fools gold.

It was an awful trade and I just want him out of this organization ala Yakupov.

Yeah I said in another thread that I would be perfectly fine losing Reinhart to expansion and just cutting the loss on the draft picks traded for him. Not that I don't see him having NHL potential, I just don't see any room for him on this team in the foreseeable future. I'd also probably be ok with losing Pouliot if Caggiula comes back from injury and proves he can play top 9 and contribute. Maroon, Caggiula, Lucic down the wing isn't the prettiest looking LW depth, but when you have 3 centres that are the calibre of ours, then you can definitely live with that, especially if Pulju turns into an elite winger on the other side.

 

[snipes]

Yeah I said in another thread that I would be perfectly fine losing Reinhart to expansion and just cutting the loss on the draft picks traded for him. Not that I don't see him having NHL potential, I just don't see any room for him on this team in the foreseeable future. I'd also probably be ok with losing Pouliot if Caggiula comes back from injury and proves he can play top 9 and contribute. Maroon, Caggiula, Lucic down the wing isn't the prettiest looking LW depth, but when you have 3 centres that are the calibre of ours, then you can definitely live with that, especially if Pulju turns into an elite winger on the other side.

Don't forget we have Benson coming up in the next couple years and Khaira can play a solid 4th line role in the coming years as well.

Maroon and McDavid just work together, if they stick together and Maroon plays well this year, no chance Chia exposes him.

 

[McFlyingV]

Don't forget we have Benson coming up in the next couple years and Khaira can play a solid 4th line role in the coming years as well.

Maroon and McDavid just work together, if they stick together and Maroon plays well this year, no chance Chia exposes him.

Yup there's a ton of depth in the pipeline, which is exactly what this team needs. We already have our core/stars in place, just need some cheap effective depth to surround them with. Speaking of Benson, I watched his 2 games in the Russia Super Series, and man does he impress me. He doesn't have elite skating or shooting or passing, but he is good in all of those categories. What really impresses me about him is how smart he looks out there. He just reads the play so well and knows where to be, and where his teammates will be that even when he looks like he's out of options he'll just throw the puck to an area that he knows a teammate can win the race to.

As for Maroon, yeah its incredible how effective he is with McDavid, and just how well he meshes with him. Big physical, terrible skater, but has a nice set of soft hands that can make plays and he understands where he needs to be on the ice at all times with McDavid.

 

[snipes]

Yup there's a ton of depth in the pipeline, which is exactly what this team needs. We already have our core/stars in place, just need some cheap effective depth to surround them with. Speaking of Benson, I watched his 2 games in the Russia Super Series, and man does he impress me. He doesn't have elite skating or shooting or passing, but he is good in all of those categories. What really impresses me about him is how smart he looks out there. He just reads the play so well and knows where to be, and where his teammates will be that even when he looks like he's out of options he'll just throw the puck to an area that he knows a teammate can win the race to.

As for Maroon, yeah its incredible how effective he is with McDavid, and just how well he meshes with him. Big physical, terrible skater, but has a nice set of soft hands that can make plays and he understands where he needs to be on the ice at all times with McDavid.

Agreed, Benson is very cerebral and thinks the game at an elite level. Not particularly great speed or shot, his passing is good. It's his hockey IQ that makes him a good player. Benson could be a good future LWer for Nuge or Drai down the road.

Maroon just has a connection with McDavid, they mesh well and have an understanding on the ice. Maroon has a better shot than Lucic does and he's good in front of the net. Maroon has shown an offensive touch since his junior days. Put up 90 points in 64 games for the London Knights. Had a season in the AHL with 74 points in 75 games and consistently put up very respectable numbers in the AHL.

In the 2014-15 playoffs Maroon played with Getzlaf and Perry as line mates, he put up 11 points in 16 games. We know his chemistry and production he's had with McDavid, there is something there and his history more than suggests he's got an offensive touch in his game.

 

[McFlyingV]

Agreed, Benson is very cerebral and thinks the game at an elite level. Not particularly great speed or shot, his passing is good. It's his hockey IQ that makes him a good player. Benson could be a good future LWer for Nuge or Drai down the road.

Maroon just has a connection with McDavid, they mesh well and have an understanding on the ice. Maroon has a better shot than Lucic does and he's good in front of the net. Maroon has shown an offensive touch since his junior days. Put up 90 points in 64 games for the London Knights. Had a season in the AHL with 74 points in 75 games and consistently put up very respectable numbers in the AHL.

In the 2014-15 playoffs Maroon played with Getzlaf and Perry as line mates, he put up 11 points in 16 games. We know his chemistry and production he's had with McDavid, there is something there and his history more than suggests he's got an offensive touch in his game.

Yup I'd agree with that, Maroon has better hands and a better shot than Lucic. Lucic's shot more reminds me of Ryan Smyth's tbh, and Ryan didn't score all those goals because of his shot

The thing about Maroon that impressed me most last year was how he was impossible to knock off the puck when protecting it. I think he may have lost a little bit of that this year by dropping all that weight, although he's still very good in that regard, but he looks a step quicker and doesn't look as tired at the end of shifts as he used to so it was well worth the trade off. I wonder if anyone has the exact numbers of Maroon when on McDavid's line. So far he's got 2g-2a in 3 games this year, and I think he only played the last 10 or so games with McDavid last year putting up 6g-4a. Small sample size for sure, but I'm not sure its out of the question that Maroon could be a 25-30goal 50-60 point guy playing with McDavid all season. Especially if he gets some PP time (and imo he should be on the 1st PP over Lucic because he has better puck control).

 

[Mr Positive]

For expansion to Vegas, I was thinking we would go with 8 skaters, just to perserve our defense, but that ultimately means exposing Maroon. (Drai, Lucic, RNH, Ebs protected).

I'm now thinking we have to go the 10 skater route, and protect a bunch of forwards. Expose Davidson. Wait to re-sign Russell until after expansion. Not only do we keep Maroon, but we can keep Pouliot too, whose game I like a lot too. Plus another forward.

 

[snipes]

For expansion to Vegas, I was thinking we would go with 8 skaters, just to perserve our defense, but that ultimately means exposing Maroon. (Drai, Lucic, RNH, Ebs protected).

I'm now thinking we have to go the 10 skater route, and protect a bunch of forwards. Expose Davidson. Wait to re-sign Russell until after expansion. Not only do we keep Maroon, but we can keep Pouliot too, whose game I like a lot too. Plus another forward.

Yeah I'm with you, that seems to be a better route to go down. I doubt Vegas even values Davidson as much as we do, but if we did have to lose one of Davidson/Maroon I'd rather it be Davidson than Maroon. Especially if we re-sign Russell after the expansion draft. Nurse will move to the 2nd pairing next year and Russell on the 3rd pairing down the left side.

Keeping Maroon + another forward seems like the smartest route. We still have Maroon signed through the 2017-18 season on the cheap.

 

[backhandsauce]

Maroon is a beauty! Great interview with Mene Gene.