The Bruins are acquiring veteran winger Pat Maroon from the Wild for a conditional late-round pick, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo.
Maroon was on injured reserve after undergoing back surgery early last month. He’s just entered his four-to-six-week return timeframe, so while he won’t debut for Boston immediately, he won’t be out of the lineup for too much longer. Russo reported this morning that Maroon and Connor Dewar were both drawing trade interest.
The 35-year-old has settled into a comfortable fourth-line role in the later stages of his career, recording four goals and 16 points in 48 games with the Wild before landing on IR. The bruising power winger led all NHLers in PIMs last season with 150 and made four consecutive Stanley Cup Finals over a four-year run from 2019 to 2022 with the Blues and Lightning. He wrapped up his four-year stint in Tampa last summer as the second year of his $1M cap-hit deal was traded to Minnesota for a seventh-round pick with 20% retention.
As such, Maroon will carry a slightly reduced cap hit of $800K for the Bruins. Minnesota is not expected to retain salary in this transaction.
With three Stanley Cup rings and nearly 800 games of NHL experience, Maroon provides Boston with a veteran fourth-line presence that they were sorely lacking. Jesper Boqvist, Justin Brazeau, and Jakub Lauko were staffing the Bruins’ bottom forward unit, all averaging less than 11 minutes per game. Maroon can shoulder a bit more ice time – he averaged nearly 13 per game with the Wild – and carries any intangible that a playoff contender could want.
The Bruins must assign one player to the minors to remain cap-compliant after this trade. They had only $57.5K in cap space, so one of Brazeau or Marc McLaughlin, neither of whom requires waivers, will likely be assigned to AHL Providence.
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The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired one of baseball's premier relievers to bolster their bullpen. In a trade with the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto is adding Seranthony Dominguez to its pitching staff, according to MLB.com's Keegan Matheson. While the move solidifies the Blue Jays' status as buyers, it's the timing of the transaction that stands out. The Orioles finished a 16-4 walloping of the Blue Jays just hours before the deal went down, and while it's not unheard of to see a player traded to a franchise his former team is visiting, the fact that the two teams will face off again Tuesday night at 6:35 PM EST makes this a truly unique swap. Dominguez may not suit up in his first official contest as a Blue Jay, but he will be switching clubhouses before the second half of the team's doubleheader. It won't take long for the veteran reliever to make an impact, either, as bullpen production has stood out for a Toronto team that has been dominating in most aspects of the game. In 43 appearances with the Orioles this season, Dominguez has posted a respectable 3.24 ERA over 41.2 innings. He hasn't quite returned to the impressive form he was in with the Phillies from 2018 to 2022, but the value is obvious for a team hoping to capture its third World Series in franchise history. The rebuilding Orioles acquired right-handed pitching prospect Juaron Watts-Brown, who was ranked as Toronto's 10th-best prospect in the latest MLB Pipeline team Top 30 Prospects list. The 23-year-old has gone 2-5 over 19 starts across High-A and Double-A this year, posting a combined 3.54 ERA while striking out 115 over 89 innings. As two teams heading in vastly different directions this season, it's a sensible move for both sides. Dominguez is an unrestricted free agent after this season, making him a rental for Toronto down the stretch. If Watts-Brown continues to show promise, though, the trade could ultimately be deemed a win for Baltimore.
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