{"id":119579,"date":"2025-09-05T00:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T00:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/119579\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T00:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T00:56:07","slug":"nhl-news-jon-cooper-lightning-welcome-back-three-time-stanley-cup-champion-in-new-off-ice-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/119579\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL News: Jon Cooper, Lightning welcome back three-time Stanley Cup champion in new off-ice role"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bolavip.com\/en\/topic\/jon-cooper\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Jon Cooper\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jon Cooper<\/a> and the Tampa Bay Lightning have decided going back to basics might be for the best after yet another playoff exit in the NHL. Now, a retired three-time Stanley Cup champion is returning to the Big Guava, though in a new capacity.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/bolavip.com\/en\/topic\/tampa-bay-lightning\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Lightning\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lightning<\/a> experienced plenty of success with Pat Maroon in the organization. Therefore, as the tide got rough for Cooper and the Bolts, the recently retired forward is joining the team in Cigar City in a new role off the ice and the action.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the Lightning announced Maroon will be serving in a full-time capacity as team ambassador. Moreover, the new assignments won\u2019t stop there for the 37-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 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\u2019s revamped television broadcast during the 2025-26 season,\u201d the announcement read, via NHL.com.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer\" role=\"presentation\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyBoZWlnaHQ9IjU3NiIgd2lkdGg9IjEwMjQiIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4xIi8+\"\/> Jon Cooper and Pat Maroon during the 2022 Stanley Cup Final Excited for the future <\/p>\n<p>Maroon wasn\u2019t precisely beloved by the rest of the <a href=\"https:\/\/bolavip.com\/en\/nhl\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"NHL\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NHL<\/a> fanbases, but he was a fan-favorite in Tampa. The Lightning took him in as a free agent in 2019, and since an everlasting bond was built. Now, Maroon is back with the Bolts, following brief stints with the Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins, and Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing back in Tampa, winning two Stanley Cups, the fans mean a lot to me,\u201d Maroon admitted. \u201cThey\u2019ve 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\u2019s going to be awesome, so I\u2019m really looking forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Just shy of four straight <\/p>\n<p>Though far from being the fastest or most skilled player on a nightly basis, Maroon thrived in the <a href=\"https:\/\/bolavip.com\/en\/topic\/stanley-cup\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Stanley Cup\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Stanley Cup<\/a> Playoffs. When the space narrowed down and players were hemmed in on the ice, that\u2019s when his big size made the difference.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, it\u2019s no wonder Maroon completed a rare back-to-back-to-back in the NHL. He won his first with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, and followed it up with <a href=\"https:\/\/bolavip.com\/en\/nhl\/nhl-teams-back-to-back-stanley-cup-wins\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"consecutive Stanley Cup conquests\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">consecutive Stanley Cup conquests<\/a> with Cooper\u2019s Lightning in 2020 and 2021. <\/p>\n<p>Had it not been for the Colorado Avalanche, Maroon would have hoisted a fourth Cup in 2022. Still, when he called it a career during the 2024\u201325 season, his trophy cabinet was more than full. Now, he hopes to help the Bolts capture their fourth Cup in franchise history but in a new place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jon Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning have decided going back to basics might be for the best&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,84465,575,85,4787,4788],"class_list":{"0":"post-119579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-jon-cooper","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-stanley-cup","14":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}