Fantasy Impact: The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed hulking winger Patrick Maroon to a cheap little one-year deal at $900,000.
The Lightning get: a 6-3, 225-pound power forward coming off a Stanley Cup win for his hometown St. Louis Blues. Maroon took a pay cut and more of a depth role to play in his hometown, despite coming off seasons of 43 and 42 points. Now he has to take a pay cut because the numbers weren't there, thanks to said role decrease. But at 31 years of age there should still be some gas left in the tank, even as a power forward.
Fantasy Players Impacted: Tampa's lineup is pretty set as far as the top nine are concerned. The only way Maroon squeaks in there is with an injury, or with Brayden Point signing later in the year and the roster shifts around as a result. He will still get residual PP time, and the early results will be there if Point's signing is delayed, but otherwise expect more of the same versus last year. His window for getting a top-six role closed when he decided to go the hometown (and family) route last year, and take a discount. In 2018-19, Maroon started to finally find his niche with his new team in the final quarter when he tallied 12 points in 20 games to end the season on a line with Tyler Bozak and Robert Thomas. He was also a solid playoff asset, even though he had just seven points in 26 games. The Lightning will use that experience, and his big body, to push them past any teams that look to pull off another 'Columbus Shocker' next April. He is a fantastic depth option that will help scoring lines continue to score in the event that a member of that line goes down with injury. Had Maroon signed with another team with an opening in the top nine, he would have gained some fantasy value, but he won't get that here.
I have already rolled back his projection in the Fantasy Guide (pick it up here).
Fantasy Players this helps, in order:
None. Maroon's production increase this season will be neglible.
Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:
Patrick Maroon (stats and fantasy info here)
This addition won't have a tangible impact on any player's numbers. The Lightning needed one more winger and we knew they would sign one. This was a good signing for that need.