Absurd Goalie Monday: Marco Baron

There's a lot to say about hype and getting caught into it. We all know that most of these AGMs get caught in their own hype; but this week's AGM was caught into someone else's hype, which may have stalled his own career a bit. Sure, he bounced back for a bit-- but in the end it never was the same. This week, we look at the career of Marco Baron.

Baron started out his career in the QMJHL, playing in 64 games with the Montreal Juniors in 1975-76 and 1976-77 before moving onto the Verdun Eperviers where he'd appear in 128 games in the 1977-78 and 1978-79 season. With Verdun, Baron garnered Second Team All-Star honors in 1978, as well as leading the QMJHL in shutouts, with three, in 1978-79. However, thanks to the lack of record keeping, no records are available for Baron.

After his junior career, Baron took to the pros-- being selected 99th overall by the Boston Bruins in the 1979 Draft. Baron started and spent the majority of the 1979-80 season with the Grand Rapids Owls of the IHL, where he would play in 35 games before getting called up to play for the Binghamton Dusters. With the Dusters, Baron would go 0-5-0 in six games, while getting one game in Boston that season, which was a no-decision. The 1980-81 season was a tough one for Baron, who was bumped as a back-up to Rogie Vachon by US Olympic hero Jim Craig, relegating Baron to the AHL's Springfield Indians, playing in 23 games with a 12-11-0 record. Baron would get a call-up to Boston that season for 10 games, going 3-4-1 in those games and then 0-1 in his only playoff appearance that year. While Baron would start the 1981-82 season with the Erie Blades (1-1-0 in two games), the bulk of the time would be spent with the Bruins and would get a majority of the games, going 22-16-4 record in 44 games.

However, it wouldn't last for Baron, who would spend most of the 1982-83 season with the Baltimore Skipjacks of the AHL, going 8-11-1 in 22 games before being called up to the Bruins for nine games and sporting a 6-3-0 record. The 1983-84 season had Baron staying in the AHL with the Moncton Alpines going 6-7-3 in 16 games before being put on the move.

In January of 1984, Baron was dealt by the Bruins to the Los Angeles Kings for Bob LaForest. With the Kings that season, Baron would go 3-14-4 in 21 games on a very sub-par Kings team.

Baron would have a shaky 1984-85 season, playing in one game with the Sherbrooke Canadiens of the AHL for one game (no decision) before getting signed with the Edmonton Oilers. Baron would play one game with the Oilers (a loss), then would be sent down to the Nova Scotia Oilers. With Nova Scotia, Baron would play 17 games finishing with an 8-7-1 record. Also that season, the Canadiens won the Calder Cup and Oilers won the Stanley Cup; but Baron did not qualify to receive any accolades for that.

After that season, Baron would move overseas to Switzerland to play for Ambri-Piotta for seven games in the 1985-86 season before hanging up the pads for good. After his playing career, Baron stayed in Switzerland and with Ambri-Piotta as an assistant coach with the main squad and head coach for the youth and junior team squads.

While he was almost derailed by an upstart goalie, he was able to rebound nicely; though he snapped right back to the downside. He kept plugging away at it and seemed to be stuck in bad situations where he wasn't able to shine as bright as he did early on in his career. Luckily, he was able to stay into hockey after his playing career and grow the game into a developing hockey nation.