Patrick Maroon Traded to Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning have agreed to a trade. Patrick Maroon and Maxim Cajkovic were traded to the Minnesota Wild for a 2024 7th-round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Maroon played four seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning and fit into the role he was paid for.

Maroon, who was drafted in the sixth round at 161st overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, is a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Maroon also appeared in four straight Stanley Cup Finals.

In Maroon’s 2022-23 season, he amassed five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 30 games. While Maroon carried a plus/minus of minus five, he recorded a career-high 150 penalty minutes.

Throughout Maroon’s career, he’s played 729 regular season games where he’s scored 117 goals and 171 assists for 288 points. Maroon has a career plus/minus of plus 30 and 930 career penalty minutes.

Maroon has played 150 career playoff games where he has played 150 total playoff games. Maroon has scored 23 goals and 28 assists while also amassing a plus/minus of plus eight and having 197 career playoff penalty minutes.

Tampa Bay would also retain 20% of Maroon’s 1 million dollar contract ($200,000 total), which expires at the end of the 2023-24 season. The other piece in the trade, Maxim Cajkovic, is a right winger born in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Cajkovic was drafted in the third round at 89th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Cajkovic has spent most of his recent time between the AHL and ECHL levels; while just a 22-year-old forward prospect, Cajkovic can provide some extra comfort and goal-scoring when needed.

This trade is purely a cap dump for the Tampa Bay Lightning and a move to benefit the Minnesota Wild with a veteran player and a prospect. Tampa Bay receives some draft capital in compensation and and most importantly, cap space in a time where cap space is much needed.