"I did work hard, but wasn't working hard enough. I've got to continue that. I can't take summers off anymore. I've got to keep working hard and enjoying it. I learned my lesson the hard way."

Armed with a new sense of purpose and a road map created by the Oilers training staff, Maroon went back home to St. Louis and made changes to his lifestyle. Portion sizes diminished and eating out became less of a habit and more of a rarity. He said his girlfriend, Francesca, helped him this summer as well when it came to the meals and motivation.

"Just eating habits, it really was. Eating out a lot really hurt me," said Maroon, who dropped roughly 15 pounds and 3% body fat in the off-season.

"(It's about) finding ways to portion your meals and limit the stuff you thought was good for you but wasn't good for you. Obviously, it came with a lot of help from (Oilers Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Chad Drummond. He did a really good job of helping me and finding someone, finding a nutritionist and working with me every day. That goes a long way."

"We always discuss ways we can make the players better and how they can appropriately spend their time and we also take all of our test information, so it's not just a subjective opinion - there's also some objective measurements that come in there," said Drummond. "We then sit down with the athlete, in this case Patrick, and together make a decision on the path for the off-season.

"One thing we talked about with Patrick was optimizing his size and increasing his speed. The way to do that is to build a bigger engine and build a smaller frame. If you're thinking of a car, you want to beef up the engine and lighten up the frame. The goal from there is to increase his speed and power so we can make him a more powerful and effective athlete."