Pat Maroon embraces joining Wild: 'I still have a lot of miles left'

Pat Maroon was at Balsam Lake, Wis., on Sunday when Tampa Bay General Manager Julien BriseBois called him.

Maroon had been traded, the end of a four-season run with the Lightning that included three trips to the finals. He was shocked by the news but also excited.

His destination?

About an hour's drive away.

"It was meant to be," he said. "It was meant to be to come here."

The Wild acquired Maroon and minor-leaguer Max Cajkovic for a 2024 seventh-round draft pick, with Maroon filling the vacancy in the lineup left by last season's veteran sparkplug Ryan Reaves.

But Maroon isn't just a gritty forward with 700-plus games on his résumé: He also has the unique pedigree of being a three-time Stanley Cup champion.

"To me the most important thing is his competitiveness, his gamesmanship and his experience in winning Stanley Cups," Wild General Manager Bill Guerin said. "That's very valuable to a dressing room. He knows what winning looks like and how it feels and what you have to go through to get there."

Maroon has competed in four of the past five Stanley Cup Finals.

Before Tampa Bay was eliminated in the first round by Toronto in April, the Lightning vied for the Cup in three consecutive years and won in 2020 and 2021. Maroon picked up his first championship with St. Louis in 2019.

Not only did he become the third player in the NHL expansion era to capture Stanley Cups in back-to-back seasons with different teams, but he was first to win in three consecutive seasons with different teams.

Maroon has logged 729 regular-season games and another 150 in the playoffs while also suiting up for Anaheim, Edmonton and New Jersey.

"Pat really knows how to pull guys into the battle," Guerin said. "That might have been an element that we were missing last year. It's tough to know how to do it if you haven't been there, and he's been there."

This trade came together after Guerin called BriseBois on Saturday, which was about a week after Brisebois told Guerin he might try to move the 35-year-old Maroon.

Tampa Bay retained 20% of the $1 million owed Maroon in the final year of his contract, so the Wild are responsible for only $800,000 — the exact amount they budgeted to spend on a new player, with the team saving the rest of its cap space to sign restricted free agents Filip Gustavsson, Brandon Duhaime and Calen Addison. Maroon's contract included a list of teams to which he would accept a trade, and the Wild were on it.

Guerin sees the 6-3, 235-pound left winger as an everyday player for the Wild and believes the forward group is "pretty set" once Duhaime re-signs.

"When someone wants you, that's the most important thing, especially when you get farther in your career and you get older," said Maroon, who was with former Lightning teammate and St. Paul native Ryan McDonagh when he learned of the trade. "I still have a lot [of] miles left. I think I can still play the game at a high level."

Last season, Maroon had five goals and nine assists while amassing a league-high 150 penalty minutes in 80 games.

He considers the Wild a fast, skilled team but also one that deploys a heavy style, "which fits right into my game," the St. Louis native said.

That physicality is what Reaves supplied the Wild with after his in-season trade last year, but he signed with the Maple Leafs on Saturday. Maroon has that same spunk.

"Guys like Reavo, guys like Pat, they have a certain swagger to them, too, and a confidence, and that's really important," Guerin explained. "That's infectious and kind of leaks into the team.

"You never just have a bunch of robots in there. You have to have personality. You have to have characters. You have to have guys that are willing to put themselves out there, and Pat's one of those guys. You have to have guys that aren't afraid to hold each other accountable."

Being a supportive and understanding teammate is Maroon's approach, and he's a big believer in players hanging out away from the rink. He already met defenseman Alex Goligoski at a bonfire Sunday night.

"We have a really good hockey club," he said. "We can do a lot of good things. There's an opportunity there, and when you play in this league, the window shuts pretty fast.

"Their window's open, and we're gonna go out there and try to win a Stanley Cup."