There has always been something special that separates Tampa from other cities for longtime NHL forward Pat Maroon.
Maroon announced his retirement from professional hockey at the end of the 2024-25 NHL season, and his post-playing career will sprout in that same special place of Tampa Bay.
The Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday announced that Maroon has joined the organization in a full-time capacity as a team ambassador. In his new role, he will work closely with the Lightning in a variety of ways, including community appearances, growing the game of hockey in the Tampa Bay Area and supporting the organization in other facets. Maroon will also serve as an analyst for the team’s revamped television broadcast during the 2025-26 season.
“I just think the community and the people that work around us are really, really good people, and I get along with everyone,” Maroon said of Tampa Bay. “It just made the most sense for me and my family, so I'm really excited to be back.”
Maroon returns to Tampa Bay after wearing the Lightning Bolt for four seasons from 2019 to 2023, helping the Lightning win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021.
He played in 848 NHL games with eight NHL organizations across 14 seasons in the league, and while he is grateful for each of those stops, Tampa carries extra meaning to his family. Maroon remembers purchasing his home in Tampa and continued his offseason training in Florida over the past few seasons.
“My daughter was born here, she loves it here. My son Anthony loves it here and loves coming down to be here and live with us during the summer months, and I think it just made sense for us,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity, and I’m really excited to work for the Lightning and just kind of see where this goes.”
Maroon looks forward to giving back to Lightning fans and others who allowed him to build his NHL career. He has never taken that support for granted, and he won’t in his new role, either.
“(Lightning co-owner and chairman) Jeff Vinik has done an amazing job throughout the community and making sure it's community first, and I learned that when I first got to this organization. We pride ourselves on giving back and we pride on having the players going into the community, doing hospital visits, going up to ball hockey, visiting kids camps. That’s a huge thing, and I think I've learned a lot from that,” Maroon said.
“Being back in Tampa, winning two Stanley Cups, the fans mean a lot to me. They've done everything, sold out hundreds of consecutive games. … Now I get the time to chat with some fans and hang out and be part of the community and support the Tampa community. It’s going to be awesome, so I'm really looking forward to that.”
Fans have likely seen Maroon on their televisions already, and they can expect more of that this season with the Lightning. He previously appeared on NHL Network and joined various NHL on TNT broadcasts during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“It just kind of came organically with doing podcasts and people reaching out and trying to figure out if I wanted to do it, if I’d be good at it,” Maroon said of hockey media.
He admitted the national broadcasts are accompanied by a learning curve, crediting fellow alumni Paul Bissonnette, Henrik Lundqvist, P.K. Subban, Anson Carter and others for leading the way in that category.
“You can't be afraid to make mistakes. You can't be afraid to pronounce a word wrong, pronounce a name wrong. It’s kind of like hockey, kind of like playing the game. You're going to get critiqued no matter what you do and what you say, so you’ve got to be prepared and understand that. That's why those guys are so good, because they're not afraid to make mistakes.”
Maroon has already been involved with the Lightning, joining for some on-ice sessions at summer youth camps and making other public appearances for the team.
He is still adapting to a hockey life which doesn’t include playing in the games. Whatever that looks like, he’s ready, particularly because it will occur in a place he loves as much as Tampa.
“You do this job, and you know when you start it that there's going to be an end to it. So I think that's the hardest part when we retire is navigating the first year out of it, and that's what I'm going to be doing is trying to navigate through my first year,” Maroon said. “It’s going to be really hard watching my boys play and knowing that I can't put my skates on and play anymore, but that's the beauty of it, too, is that we get a second chance to do what we love after hockey, too.”
