One-Time Bruins Tough Guy Gets Emotional St. Louis Send-Off

Pat Maroon’s time with the Bruins was brief, but he undoubtedly made an impact in the dressing room. That has been the case everywhere the hulking forward has played.

Maroon announced over the weekend this season will be the final in a uniquely remarkable NHL career. The Chicago Blackhawks forward revealed his decision in a trip to St. Louis, his hometown, to play the Blues.

The 36-year-old announced the decision during an emotional pregame TV interview with Blackhawks TV analyst Darren Pang on Chicago Sports Network.

“It’s tough. Sometimes you gotta give up everything you know and everything you dreamed of your whole life,” Maroon said. “I just know it’s time for me and it’s time for my family to go start a new chapter in our lives. To have a special moment tonight and be in St Louis and to have my family come in time, I won a Stanley Cup here. … This is all I know. It’s tough. It’s hard to go through things like this. You can’t really process it but I think it’s best for me and my family to go start a new chapter.”

Maroon got a hero’s welcome in his return to the Show Me State. Blues fans gave him a standing ovation during an in-game moment of recognition, and he got one final triumphant twirl around the Enterprise Center ice as the game’s No. 1 star.

“I accomplished everything in my job and against all odds,” he told the fans.

Maroon has an interesting history with the Bruins. He has long been a thorn in Boston’s side, dating back to 2019 where, as he mentioned, he won a Stanley Cup with the Blues. Maroon was part of the team that knocked off the B’s in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden in Boston. From there, he went to the Tampa Bay Lightning where he was, well, a lightning rod in the B’s-Bolts divisional rivalry. He was a winner, though, winning three straight Cups from 2019 to 2021.

That’s why it was somewhat jarring when the Bruins acquired Maroon at the 2024 NHL trade deadline. Maroon was hurt at the time and appeared in just two regular-season games, but he was a central figure during the playoffs (13 games), particularly during the Florida series.

But as Maroon himself pointed out, his career was truly against the odds. The Philadelphia Flyers drafted him in the sixth round in 2007, and Maroon didn’t become a regular in the league until 2014 with Anaheim. The best hockey of his career came in 2017 and 2018 where over the course of two seasons he scored 44 goals with 41 assists while logging 168 penalty minutes. He eventually leaned into playing the role of enforcer — he led the NHL with 150 penalty minutes in 2022-23 — but was always a highly respected locker room guy.

Saturday’s game in St. Louis was the 841st of his career.