Pat Maroon is the unsung hero for the St. Louis Blues

Pat Maroon is quickly emerging as a hometown hero for the St. Louis Blues.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are the place that heroes are made and players get remembered. The best storylines often come from the people who you’d least expect. This year, that person is St. Louis Blues forward Pat Maroon.

Maroon has quietly built his resume as an underrated NHL asset the past few seasons. Critics were quick to write him off after his 27 goal season with the Edmonton Oilers back in 2017, which they deemed a fluke.

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More likely than not, he will never reach that level of production again and a lion’s share of those goals was the byproduct of being on the same line as Connor McDavid. Whether he flirts with a 30 goal season or not, he serves an offensive spark plug and fan favorite that make the Blues proud he’s along for the ride.

Maroon signed a one year deal with the Blues in the offseason after spending last season split between the Oilers and the New Jersey Devils. His 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points in the regular season may be expected production from a player like Maroon, yet not head turning. It’s his three goals (two of them game-winners) and three assists in the playoffs that are making this a year to remember for Maroon.

Six points in 16 games may not be Conn Smythe type numbers, but he scored the most important goal of his career with his game seven, double-overtime winner against Dallas in front of the home crowd.

One of the things that make Maroon and the Blues a perfect match is that Maroon is a St. Louis born and bred hockey player. Even if he’s not the greatest player on the team, even if he’s not gotten the attention that goaltender Jordan Binnington has in carrying the team, he represents the entire franchise. Actor, fellow St. Louis native, and noted Blues fan Jon Hamm even personally stopped by the Blues dressing room to embrace Maroon after the big goal.

Maroon’s role as an underdog player coming up in his team’s biggest moments are drawing comparisons to a different St. Louis athlete from a different sport. MLB player David Freese famously won a World Series with the Cardinals back in 2011 and earned MVP honors. Freese, much like Maroon, was from St. Louis and found himself playing for the same team he rooted for as a kid. After Maroon’s game seven heroics, the comparisons started pouring in.

As if Blues fans needed another reason to root for their hometown hero, there’s the matter of his son, Anthony. When Maroon chose to sign with St. Louis, he wasn’t motivated by what team was offering the most or which team could give him the easiest route to a championship like most free agents, he was motivated by family.

Maroon has a young son, who lives in St. Louis year round, and has openly said many times he wishes he could spend more time with him during the hockey season.

His former team, the New Jersey Devils, offered more money to Maroon than St. Louis, but that wasn’t enough to sway his decision. As for his former general manager Ray Shero, there seems to be no hard feelings and he completely understands.

“I’ve known Patty for a few years now, and I’m really proud of the decision he made and why he made it, for his son,” Shero said. “Respect for the decision he made, but he was a good asset for us, a good trade for us. To take a one-year deal there, to be part of his son’s life, you can’t say that too often.”

Maroon’s son has become a fixture at Blues games, and if you want to ask if he’s happy to have his dad around, well his reaction to that game seven goal says everything.

Even if there’s no crying in hockey, we’ll make an exception for this one time. Maroon maybe only on a one year deal, but there isn’t a surer thing that St. Louis would love to keep him around. The city is still reeling after their NFL franchise left, making the city feel almost neglected by the professional sports world, and the Blues are giving them something to rally around.

There’s still a lot of hockey to play, even if the Blues overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks last night was discouraging, even though Maroon picked up another assist to find himself on the score sheet.

If Maroon can win his first cup with his son looking on delivery St. Louis its first Stanley Cup, it’ll be a career-defining moment that will go down in St. Louis sports history. Binnington may be the star of this Blues team, but Maroon is the perfect character for its supporting cast.