Pat Maroon chokes up talking about his former team St. Louis Blues after announcing retirement 

Longtime NHL veteran forward Pat Maroon, who won the Stanley Cup three times during his career, announced on Saturday afternoon before facing the St. Louis Blues during a pre-game interview with analyst Darren Pang that this season would be his last.

Maroon disclosed his intention to officially call it a career after the 2024-25 NHL season, which will not yield a playoff appearance with the Chicago Blackhawks, the second-worst team in the NHL's Western Conference.

“Sometimes you’ve got to give up everything you know and everything you dreamed of your whole life,” Maroon said about his decision to retire. “I just know it’s time for me and it’s time for my family to go start a new chapter in our lives.”

The Blues also honored Maroon during a break in the second intermission, giving fans in St. Louis the chance to give him a proper send off with thanks for his contributions to their 2019 Stanley Cup win.

“I was shocked what the Blues did for me tonight,” Maroon said. “They didn’t have to do that. I was just playing a hockey game. I couldn't have written a better script on how it all transpired today.”

The Blues also named him the first star of the game in what was his final appearance as an NHL player in his hometown.

Blues head coach Jim Montgomery, who coached Maroon during his brief tenure last season with the Boston Bruins, had nothing but good things to say about how he carried himself as a professional.

“He is an exemplary and great teammate and he’s an incredibly intelligent hockey mind and player," Montgomery said. "He’s very underrated about how well he understands the game.”

Maroon has played in 839 NHL games, scoring 125 goals with 195 assists along with 1,071 PIM.

Pat Maroon played a major role in the first Stanley Cup by the St. Louis Blues in their history

Maroon signed with the Blues in the 2018 offseason, giving him the chance to play for his hometown team.

He played in 74 games for the Blues in 2018-19, scoring 10 goals with 18 assists. He then scored the biggest goal of his NHL career, the double overtime game-winning tally in the second round of the playoffs against the Dallas Stars, propelling the Blues to the Conference Final.

Maroon finished the 2019 postseason with three goals and four assists, winning the first of what would be three Stanley Cup titles in his career.

He later won back-to-back Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning.