Pat Maroon was traded to the Boston Bruins by the Minnesota Wild on Friday for Luke Toporowski and a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2026 Draft.
The pick will be transferred to the Wild if Maroon plays at least one game in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 35-year-old forward is in the final season of a two-year contract he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 8, 2022, and can become an unrestricted free agent after this season. He won the Stanley Cup three straight seasons with the St. Louis Blues (2019) and Lightning (2020 and 2021).
"I feel like I'm hated here, but, no, I'm super excited,” Maroon said Saturday. “Original Six team, a great opportunity, heard nothing but good things about the locker room. A great opportunity for us to go achieve our goals and accomplish it. Another chance to play in the playoffs and have a great run here."
Maroon was expected to be out 4-6 weeks after having back surgery Feb. 6. He was injured in the second period of a 3-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 27.
"Just going to talk to [the] medical staff, see where that goes,” Maroon said. “But right now, there's no timeframe right now. All I can give you is I'm skating a little bit."
Selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the sixth round (No. 161) of the 2007 NHL Draft, Maroon has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in 49 regular-season games for the Wild, Lightning, Blues, New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers and Ducks. He was acquired by Minnesota in a trade with Tampa Bay on July 2.
Maroon has 51 points (23 goals, 28 assists) in 150 playoff games.
“He’s a three-time Stanley Cup champion,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “He’s a gregarious person. I just remember last year, he came in here and he wanted to start something right away. He brought emotion into the game right away, ended up in a fight in five seconds with [Garnet] Hathaway. He’s the kind of player that brings a little glue to a locker room and on the bench.”
The Bruins then acquired defenseman Andrew Peeke from the Columbus Blue Jackets for defenseman Jakub Zboril and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. The 25-year-old has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 23 games this season and 42 points (10 goals, 32 assists) in 218 NHL games, all with Columbus.
"I'm pumped, especially coming into an organization like this,” Peeke said Saturday. “You've only heard good things about a place like this, from all the way to the top to the guys, and that's what's most exciting for me. Hitting a little reset here. Obviously yesterday was pretty crazy and a whirlwind of a day, but I couldn't be more excited to come to a team like the Bruins. Original Six, it's just special.”
Toporowski will report to Iowa of the American Hockey League. The forward had 46 points (22 goals, 24 assists) in 96 games over two seasons for the Bruins' affiliate in Providence, including 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 49 games this season.
NHL.com staff writer Amalie Benjamin and independent correspondent Joe Pohoryles contributed to this report
