The Emergence of Marincin

Martin Marincin is only 8 games into his NHL career but the highly touted prospect has been turning a few heads as of late with his steady play. Coming into this season there weren’t a lot of Oilers pundits forecasting any time with the big club for young Marincin. In fact on the defensive depth chart he was behind Oscar Klefbom and even recent draft pick Darnell Nurse. Nurse of course was sent back to the Sioux Greyhounds of the OHL, and Klefbom was slated to be a top defenseman in OKC as well as the most likely call up from the farm when needed.

But Marincin quickly surpassed Klefbom on the call up list and Nurse was taken out of the equation due to his return to junior. After the Oilers have called up Philip Larsen, Brad Hunt, and Taylor Fedun, its young number 85 that has impressed me the most. He’s been reasonably steady for such a young guy, the fact that he’s been unnoticeable goes to show he must be doing an decent job back there.

For a big guy (6’4) he’s not very physical but hell the 21 year old is only listed at 188lbs, he needs to, and hopefully will add 25-30 pounds as he matures. He uses his long stick to his advantage, swiping the puck away from unsuspecting opponents nicely. Marincin also seem rather adept at defensive positioning and can angle a player out with ease it seems. His coach likes him too, in the last game against St. Louis he played 18:46. That’s good for 4^th amongst defenseman on the team.

Not to mention him and Petry were pretty good against the Blues first line that night, they were the only defensive pairing with a positive corsi against the Blues top line. In fact out of all the defensemen on the Ice that night only Petry, his D partner, finished the game with a better corsi rating. Against a team like St. Louis that’s a pretty impressive feat for a defenseman who is only 8 games into his NHL career.

Offensively Marincin hasn’t done much at the NHL level. He was drafted as a puck moving d-man that could make a good first pass out of the zone, and put up some points on the power play. With the NHL he’s gotten 0 points. But I don’t think that’s anything to be concerned about, its early and he makes quick smart plays in the offensive blue line. He may not have that booming shot from the point but one thing he’s been doing consistently is getting the puck in deep for the forwards to go get it, it shows a level of composure and smarts I didn’t think or realize that he had.

So What am I getting At?

Well I’ve always believed that Marincin would pan out. A long long time ago I was a guest on the Lowdown with Lowetide and we talked about the defensive prospects in the Oilers system. Of course the conversation revolved around which defensive prospect would be packaged in order to bring in that gritty top 6 power forward the team so needs. Any way, LT foreshadowed the trading of Marincin, and I pleaded for it not to happen. I still feel this way.

Look the kid is big, he can skate, seems to have good awareness of where he needs to be and where his teammates are on the ice. In OKC, his coach has spoken highly of him and he’s been relied on as a top 4 guy. This kid has progressed nicely at every level he’s played. Did I mention he’s been named to Slovakia’s Olympic team? Everything about Marincin scream KEEP HIM AROUND.

Now my fear, and the scary reality of it is, that our friend Lowetide_ (Alan Mitchell) is right, that Marincin will get traded, packaged up with another player to help fill the Oilers needs. And dammit, that is not the right move. I told LT back then that I would prefer if a player like Gernat, who has 12 points in 24 games BTW, would be a more favorable organization for the team to move. Problem is Marincin, naturally is getting noticed and I can see opposing GM’s starting to ask about him when MacT is on the phone.

Let’s hope this kid can stick around, I think he just might be a big piece of the puzzle going forward.

Thanks For Reading