Daily Faceoff Live: Is Mason Marchment for real?

Today on Daily Faceoff Live, Frank Seravalli and Matt Larkin discuss Mason Marchment’s remarkable two-goal debut with the Dallas Stars after a difficult offseason for the 27-year-old.

Frank Seravalli: Let’s talk Mason Marchment; formerly of the Florida Panthers. He makes his debut with the Dallas Stars and nets two goals including this highlight reel play where he came all the way from his own end and goes through not just any defenseman but the reigning Norris Trophy winner in Roman Josi. Here you watch it, goes through Josi and then bar down on Juuse Saros.

You look at that and you go, “Wow that’s a pretty strong debut for Mason Marchment,” and maybe when you look at it you go, “Huh, what do the Stars have in this guy? I think that was the curious part leaving the Florida Panthers on such a small sample size. He hits UFA quickly because he’s your prototypical late bloomer. Last year 47 points in 54 games and then all of a sudden you’re like, “Is that an impact from playing with the guys on the Panthers, is that the talent they have there or is this someone who can carry his own weight in the NHL?” And the Stars take a chance on Marchment. Obviously a tough summer for him and his family, his Dad tragically passing away at the NHL Draft and you go, “Well how is that going to impact him potentially on the ice?” Really cool story to see him off to a good start. 

Matt Larkin: It really is, and to me, when the Stars signed him I sort of labelled him in my mind as the boom/bust addition of the off-season. Because, if you look at his pedigree, undrafted, his career high in goals in major junior was only 20! And you have him so dominant last year in 5-on-5 pts/60. There were 600 players who played at least 500 minutes, the only people with more points per game than Mason Marchment last year were Johnny Gaudreau and Mitch Marner.

So, what are you getting when you sign him for $4.5 million? What’s exciting about that AAV is it’s not that expensive to find out. You only really need him to be a good middle-six forward at that price for four years and the potential is huge. I’m wondering, they’re not the same player so I want to be clear on that, but if you look at the late career bloom of Martin St. Louis, someone who was mid to late 20s, suddenly got a chance and became a frontline player, and I’m wondering if we could see that type of career progression from Mason Marchment. 

Frank Seravalli: Boom or bust, I think that’s a great way to frame Mason Marchment and so far one game in, two goals, certainly feels like a boom for the Dallas Stars. And they could use it too as they continue that transition, we saw Jason Robertson and his line with Roope Hintz sort of taking over that team, that was maybe the official passing of the baton from the Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn team to those younger guys, and if Marchment can be apart of that group that helps carry the ball forward for the Dallas Stars, that would be a huge addition. 

You can watch the full episode here…