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Less than 24 hours ago it seemed like Patrick Maroon was destined to sign with the St. Louis Blues.

While that still remains a realistic possibility, it's less of a sure thing than had been thought.

If Maroon wishes to sign with his hometown team, he'll have to take a discount and hope for a better deal down the road when the Blues sort out their cap situation.

Money certainly wouldn't be an issue with other interested parties such as New Jersey and Arizona, as outlined by Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic​.

The problem lies in available cap space: the Blues have just $5 million, while New Jersey has $23 million and Arizona has $15 million. The Blues still have to sign restricted free agent Joel Edmundson, which may cost $3-4 million, meaning the club would need to keep Maroon’s salary below $2 million, unless Armstrong is prepared to make a trade and shed cap space.

Maroon averaged 23 goals and 45 points per 82 games played over the last two seasons. He also brings size and strength that teams are always looking for. It's no surprise he's hesitant to jump at a sub $2 million salary in what could be the best opportunity of his career to get a nice pay day.

I doubt the Devils would want to go longer than two or three years. Still, they could afford to offer a much more lucrative deal than the Blues. It could be argued they should given the wealth of space they have and the need of more scoring depth up front.

For all the talk about how Maroon's skating doesn't make him a good fit in New Jersey, he still managed to pile up 13 points in 17 games to help them get into the playoffs.

As long as the term is reasonable, I think it'd be beneficial to keep Maroon around.

We'll see if Ray Shero can find a way to do it.

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