Blackhawks’ Patrick Maroon, a 3-time Stanley Cup champion, says he’s retiring after the season

ST. LOUIS — Three-time Stanley Cup champion Patrick Maroon said he is retiring after this season.

Maroon, who turns 37 next month, made the announcement in a pregame television interview before he and the Chicago Blackhawks played at his hometown St. Louis Blues.

“Sometimes you’ve got to give up everything you know and everything you dreamed of your whole life,” Maroon told Darren Pang on Chicago Sports Network. “I just know it’s time for me and it’s time for my family to go start a new chapter in our lives.”

Maroon helped the Blues win their first championship in franchise history in 2019. He then joined the Tampa Bay Lightning and won back to back in 2020 and ’21.

Maroon became the fourth player in NHL history and first since 1964 to win the Cup three years in a row with two different teams. It was not a coincidence he revealed that he’s calling it a career while in St. Louis with family in attendance.

“It’s tough,” Maroon said. “It’s hard to go through things like this. You can’t really process it, but I think it’s special for me and my family to go start a new chapter.”

Maroon has played 1,002 regular-season and playoff games with Anaheim, Edmonton, New Jersey, St. Louis, Minnesota, Boston and Chicago after getting drafted in the sixth round in 2007 by Philadelphia.