The Development of Martin Marincin

Last year I wrote about the emergence of Martin Marincin and declared my undying man crush for the young Slovakian defenseman. It’s true and my feelings will never change, only grow stronger. I’ve paid attention to his development since he joined the Prince George Cougars of the WHL, which is weird because I don’t normally follow junior players too closely (They might see me……..JOKE), but his development path has always reminded me somewhat of Zdeno Chara.

Sure Chara is 6’9 and one of the best defenseman in the league, and Marincin is only 6’4 and beginning what might be his first full season in the NHL, but the two are linked in a few ways. But both have followed a similar path to the NHL, coming over from Slovakia to play junior for Prince George, both coming in and being hyped for their size but harped on for their rough around the edges style of play. Both developed quickly after their draft years.

I’m always reminded of a story told to me by one of my good friends who skated against Chara at training camp with Prince George of the WHL;

Chara was huge, but he couldn’t skate, he was so heavy on his feet that you could hear him coming from all the way across the rink. The funny thing is when the other kids around the room talked about him, no one would have ever thought he’d be an NHL player let alone the captain of a Stanley Cup Champion team. But he was so tough to get around because he had such a big stick and knew how to use it to his advantage. He was tall but not that heavy when he came to camp, but he tried hard and hit everything that moved. In fact the hardest I’ve ever been hit was by him, it’s not like I didn’t hear him coming but the guy was so big I just couldn’t get out of his way, he ended up dislocating my shoulder and that was the end of my career in the dub. The funny thing is when the other kids around the room talked about him, no one would have ever thought he’d be an NHL player let alone the captain of a Stanley Cup Champion team.

There you have it, tall and skinny, knew how to use his size to his advantage, all things we’ve heard and seen from Marincin since he came over to play in North America. Marincin isn’t as physical as Chara was even early but he knows how to use his size and also know that gaining some weight will make him a better player too.

Marincin came into camp this year 15 pounds heavier and hasn’t lost a step, from what I’ve seen of him so far in camp and one pre-season game he’s grown not just in size but as a player too, his development is still trending upwards and that is a great sign. He seems to want it, he seems to know what it will take for him to be an effective defenseman in the NHL.

Lets have a quick look at the stats comparisons;

Marincin

Chara

*Stats taken from hockeydb.com

You can see that in junior Marincin outscored Chara in his first year of junior, interesting. Chara’s route to the NHL was a little quicker than Marincin’s has been, Martin spent a season and a half playing in the AHL before making his NHL debut there points per game are similar, one thing to note is that Marincin is looking like he’s going to reach the full time NHL status a full year earlier the big Chara. There are so many variables to look at, and who really knows how things will turn out in the end. One can argue that Chara is on pace for a hall of fame career, who knows and if that is the kind of player the Oilers got in Marincin then they’ve hit the absolute jackpot here.

Much like Chara, the hope is that Marincin will never stop working to improve his game, always doing what it takes to carve himself out a long and prosperous career. Sure I might be stretching here but I can see Marincin developing into a top notch NHL defenseman, maybe not quite at the Superstar level of Chara but hey, when Chara came into the league no one thought he would ever be as good as he has become. The Oilers have a player here folks, mark my words he’s going to be a top 2 defenseman with the Oilers, sooner rather than later.

Thanks for Reading