BOSTON – Pat Maroon is no stranger to Bruins fans.

The rugged winger has done battle with the Black & Gold for years, including in playoff series with St. Louis (2019 Stanley Cup Final) and Tampa (2020 second round).

But now, he’ll be going to battle in Black & Gold after being acquired from Minnesota in exchange for Providence winger Luke Toporowski and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026 ahead of Friday’s NHL trade deadline.

“Guy’s a winner, a couple different teams, won Cups,” said Charlie Coyle. “Those are guys that can only help you in your room, physical presence, he brings the veteran leadership. We add a guy who, like I said, has won multiple times. That can only help your dressing room. And I think he’s going to do that.

“He’s done it three times, right? He’s experienced losses, experienced wins, and that’s great to have, teach younger guys and teach all of us.  Especially younger guys coming in and a guy who’s been around the league each year, what he’s been through, what makes winning teams, winning cultures and even things in the past that have not led to success, from his point of view.

“So, it’s always good to get another point of view from someone else and what they’ve kind of gone through and share that but 100% can help younger guys and the whole team as well. We are looking forward to having a guy like that.

Maroon, 35, is in the midst of his 13^th NHL season and the Bruins will be his  seventh team, in addition to Anaheim, Edmonton, New Jersey, St. Louis, Tampa, and Minnesota. He played in four consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, winning with the Blues in 2019 and the Lightning in 2020 and 2021, before losing with Tampa in 2022.

“He’s a three-time Stanley Cup Champion,” said Montgomery. “I mean…he’s a gregarious person…I just remember last year, he came in here and he wanted to start something right away. He brought emotion into the game right away, and he ended up in a fight in five seconds with [Garnet] Hathaway. He’s the kind of player that brings a little glue to a locker room and on the bench.”

Maroon has been sidelined for the past four-plus weeks due to back surgery and just started to get back on the ice in the next step of his rehabilitation.

“We don’t have a definitive timeline there,” said Bruins general manager Don Sweeney “We’ll just let that play out, get accustomed with our medical team, and let him progress. We know when he plays his best hockey, and the fact is that he’s been part of championship teams, and the pedigree that he has, and what he brings to the table…I think was important to us on and off the ice. We’re excited to bring Pat on board.”

Take a Peek

Boston also added to its back end on Friday with the acquisition of defenseman Andrew Peeke from Columbus in exchange for blue liner Jakub Zboril and a 2027 third-round pick. The 25-year-old Florida native is in his fifth NHL season, all with the Blue Jackets, and has a goal and seven assists in 23 games.

Peeke, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound right shot, played 82 and 80 games, respectively, for Columbus in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

“We feel really good that he brings a different element,” said Sweeney. “Confidence is probably the right word, systems, structure is going to be the next thing that we’re going to really hammer down in terms of getting him up to full speed in terms of how we play and the structure that we want to play with.

“And we feel comfortable that we’ll be able to do that and he’ll buy into what needs to be the player…as I referenced, two years ago, he was playing [Zach Werenski] some nights, 20 minutes. Change the coach and systems thinking some players respond, some players don’t.

“It’s incumbent upon us and our staff to make sure that we’ve made the right decision and the players fully bought in.”

Peeke, set to arrive in Boston on Friday evening, has two years remaining on his contract worth an average of $2.75 million per season.

Andrew addresses another need for us, in depth in the right side, size, penalty killing,” said Sweeney. “In years past, we’ve gone through most of the defensemen at certain times and areas of the game that he can help booster our group and bring balance to our group…I think is important. He’s been in and out of the lineup, we’ve watched him –even the last couple of nights where he’s gone in and played 20 minutes against the Oilers [Thursday] night.

“I think it’ll be an adjustment coming into a new structure and the systems that we play. But we’re excited about going to work with him as a bigger body on the right side that I think is hard to find.

“It’s not a rental. We have that that player moving forward. He’s young, and we’ll have to make sure we continue to sharpen up his game. He’s excited.”