"Obviously without those two I wouldn't have the success I did, but sometimes you've got to give yourself some credit too," Maroon, a St. Louis native, said recently after a workout at the St. Louis Blues practice facility. "Those two are very tremendous players, and for me I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing to stay with them.
"Obviously [Oilers coach] Todd McLellan had a really big part in that. He gave me an opportunity to play with those two. For me, I've just got to continue what I did last year, come [to training camp] in really good shape again, and hopefully good things fall into place again."
Maroon said though McDavid, who led the NHL in assists (70) and points (100) in 82 games last season, deservedly gets the credit bestowed upon him, fans and opponents need to pay attention to Draisaitl, who was eighth in the League with 77 points (29 goals, 48 assists) in 82 games.
"Playing with Connor and Leon Draisaitl last year, a lot of people don't give Leon enough credit because there's always Connor there," Maroon said. "But I think with both of them together really helped me out last year. They obviously see things that certain players don't see. So for me, I think I was trying to do my part, be big and strong, go to the net hard and hoping for them to find me and hopefully clean up the mess if they got a shot or whatever."