With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 48 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

John Marino

Position: Defenseman

Shoots: Right

Age: 24

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 181 pounds

2020-21 NHL statistics: 52 games, 13 points (three goals, 10 assists)

Contract: Second year of a two-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $925,000.

(Note: Marino will be entering the first year of a six-year contract with a salary cap hit of $4.4 million in 2021-22.)

Acquired: Trade, July 26, 2019

2020-21 season: Former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford could be prone to hyperbole from time to time.

But after he suggested John Marino could be a member of the Penguins for upwards of a decade, he backed that proclamation up in a big way.

On Jan. 3, the first day of training camp, Rutherford signed Marino to a six-year contract extension with a sizeable cap hit.

The expectations were already high for Marino after a strong rookie season in 2019-20. They got even higher after his new contract.

He didn’t do much to live up to them in 2020-21.

Marino opened the season on the second defensive pairing. But by the end of the 2020-21 campaign, Marino and Marcus Pettersson, his regular partner for the better part of two seasons, were bumped to the third pairing after being surpassed by offseason acquisitions Cody Ceci and Mike Matheson.

Offensively, Marino, who missed four games due to an undisclosed injury, saw his production dip by nearly half compared to his rookie season when he posted 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 56 games. His first goal of the 2020-21 season did not come until his 24th contest of the campaign, a 5-1 home win against the New York Rangers on March 7.

While his five-on-five deployment took a step back, Marino was still a staple on both special teams as he averaged 1:24 of ice time on the power play, primarily with the second unit, and 1:52 with the penalty kill.

In the postseason, Marino was largely inert. Appearing in all six games during the Penguins’ first-round loss to the New York Islanders, Marino averaged 17:45 of ice time while failing to record a point.

The future: Presumably, Marino will regain his spot on the second defensive pairing should Cody Ceci depart as a pending unrestricted free agent. (Marino’s new salary cap hit will all but guarantee Ceci signs elsewhere.) That will mean more ice time and more opportunities to make an impact in games.

(Note: Marino’s status as a second-year professional makes him ineligible to be selected in this month’s expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken franchise.)

To be clear, Marino wasn’t awful by any means this past season. And it would be a stretch to say he regressed. But he didn’t build on what he accomplished as a rookie.

Regardless, he’s still a major component of the Penguins’ future, even after a subpar second professional season. And as a right-handed shooting defenseman who can skate and move the puck, he’ll always have a spot in the lineup.

As he enters his new contract, the expectations will continue to grow for Marino.

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