ST. LOUIS (AP) — 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.
“I’ve done everything I could in this league,” an emotional Maroon said discussing his decision after St. Louis defeated Chicago 4-1 Saturday. “I have no regrets.”
Maroon was given a loud ovation during a break in the second period after a montage of highlights of his time with the Blues was shown on the videoboard.
“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.”
Maroon fought Tyler Tucker in the third period. His mother, father, two brothers and his wife were in attendance. Afterward, Maroon was named the first star of the game.
“I had the good fortune of coaching Pat Maroon in Boston last year and in the playoffs,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “He is an exemplary and great teammate and he’s an incredibly intelligent hockey mind and player. He’s very underrated about how well he understands the game.”
Maroon said he was at peace with his decision, adding it had been “the back of my head all year.” Being in St. Louis was the place to make the announcement.
“I’ve given everything I have. I wanted to go out on my own terms,” Maroon said. “I don’t want to be scratching and crawling for a contract and them telling me I’m out.”
Maroon got a fitting sendoff by the Blues, former teammate Brayden Schenn said.
“I don’t love seeing him in that jersey, I’m not going to lie, ”Schenn said. “(I) talked to him after. When you win with guys, you care about guys quite a bit. Nice to see him and get a good salute tonight by the crowd and nice tribute.”
In an interview before the game, Maroon explained his reasoning on retiring.
“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.
“I played 352 games in the minors and 840 games in the NHL right now,” Maroon said. “Who would have thought that? I’m happy I got to win in my hometown and I got to go and win two more.”
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.
Maroon “deserved all the respect and applause he got here,” Blackhawks interim head coach Anders Sorensen said.
“I thought he’s had a helluva career,” Sorensen said. “He’s brought a lot of different elements to the team this year. On the ice is one thing. With the younger guys, he’s awesome. He’s a good human being.”
Maroon said he will keep playing for the rest of the season.
“I’m just going to finish hard. I play between the whistles as hard as I can,” Maroon said. “Every time I go over the boards, it’s like my last shift ever. I will continue to do that.”
AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno in Washington contributed to this report.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Pat Maroon kisses the Stanley Cup after getting the win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals series, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk work to overhaul the federal government, they’re forcing out thousands of workers with insider knowledge and connections who now need a job.
For Russia, China and other adversaries, the upheaval in Washington as Musk's Department of Government Efficiency guts government agencies presents an unprecedented opportunity to recruit informants, national security and intelligence experts say.
Every former federal worker with knowledge of or access to sensitive information or systems could be a target. When thousands of them leave their jobs at the same time, that creates a lot of targets, as well as a counterespionage challenge for the United States.
“This information is highly valuable, and it shouldn’t be surprising that Russia and China and other organizations — criminal syndicates for instance — would be aggressively recruiting government employees,” said Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer under President George W. Bush, who now runs her own cybersecurity firm.
Each year an average of more than 100,000 federal workers leave their jobs. Some retire; others move to the private sector. This year, in three months, the number is already many times higher.
It's not just intelligence officers who present potential security risks. Many departments and agencies oversee vast amounts of data that include personal information on Americans as well as sensitive information about national security and government operations. Exiting employees could also give away helpful security secrets that would allow someone to penetrate government databases or physical offices.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, for instance, maintains information on trade negotiations that could help an adversary undercut the United States. Federal records house data on clandestine intelligence operations and agents. Pentagon databases contain reams of sensitive information on U.S. military capabilities. The Department of Energy oversees many of the nation's most closely guarded nuclear secrets.
“This happens even in good times — someone in the intelligence community who for personal financial or other reasons walks into an embassy to sell America out — but DOGE is taking it to a whole new level,” said John Schindler, a former counterintelligence official.
“Someone is going to go rogue,” he said. “It’s just a question of how bad it will be.”
Only a tiny fraction of the many millions of Americans who have worked for the federal government have ever been accused of espionage. The overwhelming number are conscientious patriots who would never sell out their country, Payton said.
Background checks, employee training and exit interviews are all designed to prevent informants or moles — and to remind departing federal employees of their duty to preserve national secrets even after leaving federal service.
It takes only one or two misguided or disgruntled workers to cause a national security crisis. Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen and former CIA officer Aldrich Ames, who both spied for Russia, show just how damaging a single informant can be.
Hanssen divulged sweeping information about American intelligence-gathering, including details that authorities said were partly responsible for the outing of U.S. informants in Russia who were later executed for working on America's behalf.
The odds that one angry former employee reaches out to a foreign power go up as many federal employees find themselves without a job, experts said. What's not in doubt is that foreign adversaries are looking for any former employees they can flip. They're hunting for that one informant who could deliver a big advantage for their nation.
“It's a numbers game,” said Schindler.
Frank Montoya Jr., a retired senior FBI official and former top U.S. government counterintelligence executive, said he was less concerned about well-trained intelligence community employees betraying their oaths and selling out to American adversaries. But he noted the many workers in other realms of government who could be targeted by Russia or China,
“When it comes to the theft of intellectual property, when it comes to the theft of sensitive technology, when it comes to access to power grids or to financial systems, an IRS guy or a Social Service guy who’s really upset about what DOGE is doing, they actually are the bigger risk,” Montoya said.
Once military and intelligence officials were the primary targets of foreign spies looking to turn an informant. But now, thanks to the massive amount of information held at many agencies, and the competitive edge it could give China or Russia, that's no longer the case.
“We have seen over the last generation, the last 20–25 years, the Chinese and the Russians increasingly have been targeting non-national defense and non-classified information, because it helps them modernize their military, it helps them modernize their infrastructure," Montoya said.
The internet has made it far easier for foreign nations to identify and recruit potential informants.
Once, Soviet intelligence officers had to wait for an embittered agent to make contact, or go through the time-consuming process of identifying which recently separated federal employees could be pliable. Now, all you need is a LinkedIn subscription and you can quickly find former federal officials in search of work.
“You go on LinkedIn, you see someone who was ‘formerly at Department of Defense now looking for work’ and it’s like, 'Bingo,’" Schindler said.
A foreign spy service or scammer looking to exploit a recently laid-off federal worker could bring in potential recruits by posting a fake job ad online.
One particularly novel concern involves the fear that a foreign agent could set up a fake job interview and hire former federal officials as “consultants” to a fake company. The former federal workers would be paid for their expertise without even knowing they were supplying information to an enemy. Russia has paid unwitting Americans to do its business before.
Payton's advice for former federal employees looking for work? It's the same as her guidance for federal counterespionage officials, she said: "Be on high alert."
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to questions about the risks that a former federal worker or contractor could sell out the country. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently announced plans to investigate leaks within the intelligence community, though her announcement was focused not on counterespionage concerns but on employees who pass information to the press or the public.
In a statement, the office said it would investigate any claims that a member of the intelligence community was improperly releasing information.
“There are many patriots in the IC that have reached out to DNI Gabbard and her team directly, explaining that they have raised concerns on these issues in the past but they have been ignored," the office said. “That will no longer be the case.”
FILE - Demonstrators rally in support of federal workers outside of the Department of Health and Human Services, Feb. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
