Despite a late start to his career, Pat Maroon has been able to hang around the NHL late into 30s and his next opportunity to win over a fan base comes in Minnesota after he was traded by Tampa Bay to the Wild on Sunday for a seventh-round pick. .
Don’t take that seventh-round price and the fact that Tampa is paying 20% of Maroon’s salary as an indication that the St. Louis native isn’t important to the Wild’s plans this season.
“He knows what winning looks like, how it feels and what you have to go through to get there,” Wild general manager Bill Guerin said Monday.
"He's tough, he's gritty, he plays hard"
đź—Ł Billy G on Pat Maroon's confidence.#mnwild pic.twitter.com/fYO39vkKtM
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) July 3, 2023
Maroon has earned praise across the league for his leadership in locker rooms and his ability to relate to every guy on the roster. The new Wild forward is credited in helping Tampa Bay mentally go where they needed to go after a first round exit in 2019 playoffs after leading the NHL with 128 points.
With Maroon a driving force in the locker room, the Lightning erased the 2019 debacle and won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021. His presence in Minnesota comes four years later and with a Wild team that hasn’t gotten out of the first round of the playoffs since 2015.
Before arriving in Tampa, Maroon helped his hometown St. Louis Blues win their first ever Stanley Cup in 2018-19. And it was Maroon who scored the game-winning goal in overtime of Game 7 against the Stars in the second round of the playoffs.
Are you catching the vibe here? Where Pat Maroon goes, Stanley Cups follow.
- 2018-19 Cup champ: Maroon’s Blues
- 2019-20 Cup champ: Maroon’s Lightning
- 2020-21 Cup champ: Maroon’s Lightning
And the Lightning were two wins shy of winning a third straight cup in 2021-22.
The success wasn’t immediate for Maroon. He was drafted in 2007 by the Flyers and didn’t make his NHL debut until the 2011-12 season with the Anaheim Ducks.
Maroon isn’t going to help lower Minnesota’s time spent in the penalty box, as he finished with the most penalty minutes (150) in the NHL last season. But that’s a factor of being tough and gritty.
The question with Maroon is if he still has enough foot speed to keep up. He wasn’t going to get that chance in Tampa, but he will in the State of Hockey.
