As part of our THW Chicago summer series, we'll present you with all the players the Chicago Blackhawks acquired in free agency and traded this offseason. In this latest edition, we look at forward Pat Maroon, who the Blackhawks signed on July 1 to a one-year, $1.3 million contract.
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The 36-year-old forward split the 2023-24 season with the Minnesota Wild and Boston Bruins, scoring four goals and 12 assists for 16 points in 51 regular season games, and two assists in 13 Stanley Cup Playoff games with – Bruins last spring.
In 13 NHL seasons, Maroon recorded 121 goals and 183 assists for 304 points in 780 regular season games with the Wild, Bruins, St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Anaheim Ducks.
Stanley Cup Pedigree
This player from St. Louis, Mo. holds the distinction of being the only NHL player in the 21st century to win three consecutive Stanley Cup championships, winning with the Blues in 2019 and the Lightning in both 2020 and 2021. He also appeared in the Stanley Cup Final with Tampa in 2022, making him the first player since the New York Islanders in the early '80s to appear in four consecutive Finals.
You might be wondering, “Hey, random hockey writer on the Internet, how much of a contribution did Maroon have to those cup-winning teams?” And, random hockey fan reading this column online, that's a fair point.
In those three championship contests, Maroon averaged just 11:31 of ice time, scoring six goals and 11 assists for 17 points in 74 Stanley Cup Playoff games. A typical fourth-line winner who can hit the ball and be a nuisance in front of the opposing net: not much, but a decent job.
But when you sign a seasoned veteran like Maroon, someone who may be a healthy scratch at times during the season, who may never see more than a dozen minutes of ice time on any given night, you don't expect the world. No, what you expect is a professional who can come to the rink every day, prepared with a solid plan, who can show the younger players on the roster what it takes to be someone who can keep the job at a high level. league in the world.
“He's well-liked by his teammates in the locker room,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson told reporters on July 1 after the signing was announced. “He's big, he's strong, but he's got good hands around the net, and it's hard to find those guys.”
Maroon's Physical Presence
Richardson, who will enter his third season with the club in 2024-25, also said a player like Maroon is visible on the ice and could bring something visible to a Chicago roster that has been desperate for that type of player.
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“He makes things happen, he keeps everyone honest on the ice, too. He is struggling in school,” he said.
Richardson's next comment was something that I think is being overlooked by fans and other media covering the club as we prepare for another season.
“He seems to be fixing things over there. “Sometimes the guys who don't have to fight or fight because of their name are more important because it just solves everything,” he said. “I can just take him off the ice at any time if things don't go well … and he's the type of guy that can change the curve of that game.”
Look, if you've read my stories in the past, including one where I made the case that fighting will always be a part of the NHL, you know what my opinion is about its place in the game. But as Richardson pointed out, two boys pass by who clap and throw their hands at each other. Maroon is not going to be Ryan Reaves.
After covering the Blackhawks in the 2023-24 season, on most nights it was clear that the team was not equipped to defend against some physical opponents. This is not a game against 6-foot-6 defenseman Jarred Tiordi, who played in 52 games for the team last season, or Nick Foligno, who has never been afraid to drop the gloves when needed.
But in a team that had seven players under the age of 24 and played at least a dozen games, many of them NHL rookies, they were pushed. This works tenfold when one of them was Connor Bedard, the Rookie of the Year and the next generation talent in the league.
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Having someone like Maroon who can protect his teammates is very important for a franchise that is still finding its footing after finishing near the bottom of the NHL standings for many seasons. As I've said ad nauseam in previous columns, no one expects this team to compete for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in April 2025.
This upcoming campaign will be filled with frustrating losing streaks, blown leads, costly mistakes and highly skilled skaters that Richardson decides to put in the press box for a night or two, perhaps after too many turnovers. There will be flashbacks to 2023-24 and the previous season.
But the fans and those who follow the team will witness good times, too. Bedard will continue to take action, as will Philipp Kurashev, Alex Vlasic, Lukas Reichel, Kevin Korchinski and I am sure there is someone else I am forgetting, and after this story is published, I will remember and think, “Ah crap , I forgot so-and-so, so-and-so. “
The main reason why those players take a step forward is because a player like Maroon will pave the way for them. There aren't many players like him anymore, maybe in the next few seasons those like him will be out of the game.
But as the old saying goes, “Smoke 'em if you got 'em.” Right now, the Blackhawks got it.
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