Maroon traded to Wild by Lightning for 7th-round pick in 2024 Draft

Pat Maroon was traded to the Minnesota Wild by the Tampa Bay Lightning for a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft on Sunday.

Minnesota also received forward prospect Maxim Cajkovic.

Maroon, who has one season remaining on a two-year, $2 million contract he signed with Tampa Bay on Feb. 8, 2022, had 14 points (five goals, nine assists) and led the NHL with 150 penalty minutes in 80 games last season. The 35-year-old forward also had one assist in six Stanley Cup Playoff games.

"At the end of the day, when you get a call like that, it's shocking a bit, especially with the team you won with," Maroon said Monday. "But I'm super excited. I can't wait to get to Minnesota. I think we have a really good hockey club. I think we can do a lot of good things. I think there's an opportunity there. And when you play in this league, the window shuts pretty fast, and their window's open, and we're going to go out there and try to win a Stanley Cup."

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Selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the sixth round (No. 161) of the 2007 NHL Draft, Maroon has 288 points (117 goals, 171 assists) in 729 regular-season games with the Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, St. Louis Blues and Lightning. He also has 51 points (23 goals, 28 assists) in 150 playoff games, including winning the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019, and Tampa Bay in 2020 and 2021.

Minnesota (46-25-11) finished third in the Central Division last season and lost the Western Conference First Round in six games to the Dallas Stars. It hasn't advanced beyond the opening round of the playoffs since 2014-15.

"I think Pat really knows how to pull guys into the battle," Wild general manager Bill Guerin said. "I think 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. I'm looking forward to seeing him interact with our group and see what he adds. I like him because he's a no (nonsense) guy. He's going to say what's on his mind, and at times it might ruffle some feathers and that's OK. It's just something you need."

Cajkovic was selected by the Lightning in the third round (No. 89) of the 2019 NHL Draft. The 22-year-old forward had 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) in 41 games with Orlando of the ECHL last season.

NHL.com independent correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this report