Pat Maroon Stuns Fans With Decision to Retire Before End of Season

The Chicago Blackhawks haven't had much to play for in 2024/25, and with the rebuild still quite a long way from being complete, there may be another few tough years ahead of them still.

However, they have been given something to play for down the stretch, with veteran Pat Maroon announcing his retirement after 14 years played at the NHL level with Anaheim, Edmonton, New Jersey, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Boston and finally Chicago.

The assumption then was that he would play out the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign, but now, he's shocked fans with the revelation that on Saturday night at home against the Winnipeg Jets, he'll play his final NHL game.

That means that the 36-year old will forego a trip to Ottawa and Montreal that will wrap up the Blackhawks season, and instead he will soak in the praise and the adulation of the fans and his teammates in their final home game of the 2024/25 regular season.

Maroon's career began way back in 2011/12 with the Anaheim Ducks, and since then the former sixth round draft pick has played in an impressive 847 games, tallying 126 goals and 323 points in that time, while using the physicality he's got to effect games in many different ways.

Once upon a time, 'The Big Rig' could score plenty of goals, but in recent years he's been a locker room leader and a big, physical threat on the ice, and while he may have never become an elite player in the NHL, he's won a Stanley Cup and the respect of every player in the league, and he'll wrap up an impressive career on Saturday night.