Pat Maroon knew what he wanted to say. His question was prepared and rehearsed in his head over and over again. He was ready. And then new teammate John Buccigross sent it down to him from the booth for his on-ice interview on Friday night at the NHL’s All-Star Skills and he was right into the fire on national television on ESPN.
“I was shy for a second there. It’s scary,” Maroon said, smiling. “It’s not as easy as it looks, I’ll tell you that.”
For someone who makes their living on the ice, nothing quite hits you like the live, red light on the camera and the producer in your ear telling you: “Go!” in front of a few hundred thousand people. Maroon learned first-hand on Friday night. The three-time Stanley Cup champion and Tampa Bay Lightning forward became one of the rare players in league history to try his hand on the broadcast side of the business while still in-season as a player.
Others have done it before, including P.K. Subban, who moonlighted last year during the Stanley Cup playoffs after his New Jersey Devils didn’t make the cut, and similarly, Ray Ferraro dipped his toe into the water in the twilight of his career once his season was finished.
Few have done it in-season. And Maroon has never fit neatly into an NHL box. The St. Louis native grew up a roller hockey star, not an ice rink rat. When he was a 22-year-old leading his AHL team in scoring, the Flyers sent him home mid-season and traded him. He has battled weight his entire career, leading up to being unfairly fat-shamed by Bruins broadcaster Jack Edwards earlier this season.
Maroon has persevered through it all as one of hockey’s great competitors, and last July he was two wins away from becoming the first player since the New York Islanders dynasty to etch his name on the Stanley Cup in four consecutive years. His light-hearted approach has made Maroon both a fan favorite and beloved teammate.
ESPN enjoyed Maroon’s infectious personality and invited him to join their team for NHL All-Star Weekend. They got connected with ESPN with the help of his agent, Ben Hankinson, and Octagon Hockey’s head of marketing Rob Grant. It all came together quickly in the days leading up to the event, with a little push from Maroon’s wife, Francesca, who urged him to take the plunge.
Maroon was hesitant because it pained him to miss his son Anthony’s hockey tournament in nearby West Palm Beach, but Francesca wanted him to scratch the itch that’s been in the back of his mind for his second act once his career is finished. The opportunity was too good to pass up.
“I’ve always thought it was something I could do after hockey,” Maroon said. “Leave the game, go on the panel somewhere on NHL Network or ESPN, where you can talk about the game, get to watch and still be around it.”
Maroon, 34, isn’t on his way out just yet. He has one more season remaining on his contract with the Lightning at $1 million. It’s fair to say, though, that he is on the back nine of his career.
It used to be taboo for professional athletes to step out and try an outside hobby or business venture on for size to see whether it may be a post-career fit. That is something the NHL, NHL Players’ Association and NHL Alumni Association are working to change.
“It’s certainly changed a lot. Guys used to have to sneak around because some coaches wanted them focused on just hockey, they would question your commitment,” said Jon Harris, founder and CEO of AthLife Inc. “That narrative has changed. It’s OK to start those conversations, have outside interests, begin to find out what you’re interested in.”
Harris’ company, AthLife, began a formal off-ice program with the NHL’s Player Development team last spring to provide resources for teams and players to begin exploring those opportunities and interests.
One employee from all 32 of the NHL’s clubs has now been trained and designated as AthLife’s off-ice contact to begin educating and connecting players with AthLife’s resources, which are centered on one-on-one development and communication. Ten years after starting the same program in football, AthLife has approximately 550 current or former NFL players actively involved in their program right now at any one time. The average NFL career is just under three seasons, which is why it’s aptly nicknamed the Not For Long league.
The average NHL career isn’t much longer. And although the rosters are half the size, there hasn’t been nearly as big of a groundswell of activity from NHL players to put themselves in positions to succeed in their second careers. AthLife has the tools to make a difference.
“Because the player population isn’t as big, we won’t be nearly as ambitious to hit that mark of 550 players active, but if we can start to get one current NHL player from each team engaged, that will get things snowballing,” Harris said. “Pretty soon that becomes a couple hundred players engaged, making connections, working on their LinkedIn page, taking classes in education programs or getting career experience. We’d be really happy with that.”
Maroon was happy to try it out last weekend, get a taste of broadcasting in a laid-back All-Star environment, and find out what life was like on the other side of the microphone.
“I thought maybe I want to coach, and having my son around and watching him play, I’d love to coach a little. But let’s see what the media world is like,” Maroon said. “I’m so used to answering questions that handing them out wasn’t easy.”
And maybe that’s the best part of the experiment: Figuring out what you don’t like is equally as important. That means there probably isn’t a sideline reporting gig in Maroon’s future, but now he has a better idea of what to hone in on whenever he decides to hang up his skates.
“Yeah, I’d want to be on a panel. That part of it, the interview, was pretty hard. I want something I can shoot the shit with the fellas and talk hockey,” Maroon said. “You think you can do it, but the question part is scary. You’ve gotta be tight, you’ve gotta be fast, you’ve gotta be snappy, and you’ve gotta say the right things. As you go through it, you loosen up. It was fun. It got better, and I’ll be better.”
