The Wild have added a veteran to their forward mix as they have acquired winger Pat Maroon from Tampa Bay along with Max Cajkovic in exchange for a 2024 seventh-round pick. Both teams have announced the swap.
Maroon spent the last four years with the Lightning, winning a pair of Stanley Cups along the way. However, his production dropped considerably last season, going from 27 points to just 14.
Of course, Maroon is more known for his physical play and he still provides that in spades, chipping in with 172 hits and recording a league-high 150 penalty minutes. He has one year left on his contract with a $1M AAV. As part of the trade, Tampa Bay is paying 20% of that money.
The 35-year-old has played in 729 career NHL contests over parts of a dozen NHL seasons, recording 117 goals, 171 assists, and 930 playoff minutes. Maroon also has plenty of playoff experience, suiting up in 150 postseason contests where he has 51 points and 197 penalty minutes along with three Cup titles from 2019-21.
He’ll take the place of Ryan Reaves on Minnesota’s fourth line after Reaves inked a three-year contract with Toronto on Saturday.
As for Cajkovic, the 22-year-old spent most of last season at the ECHL level, recording 10 goals and 17 assists in 41 games with Orlando; he suited up in just two contests with AHL Syracuse. His placement in the trade appears to be more for opening up a contract slot for the Lightning rather than being a key component for Minnesota.
Cajkovic has one year remaining on his entry-level deal and is almost certain to be back in the minors again next season.
With the swap, Tampa Bay frees up $800K in cap flexibility. It’s likely that they’ll put that money toward a new deal for RFA winger Tanner Jeannot.
Per PuckPedia, they have a little under $3M in cap room (including Brent Seabrook’s LTIR savings) with the bulk of that likely being needed to lock up their key trade deadline acquisition from last season.
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