Penguins A to Z: What can John Marino do for a second act?
As the NHL prepares for a new season scheduled to start in mid-January, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 48 individuals under NHL contract with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to high-profile trade acquisition Jason Zucker.
John Marino
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Right
Age: 23
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 181 pounds
2019-20 NHL statistics: 56 games, 26 points (six goals, 20 assists)
Contract: Second year of a two-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $925,000. Pending restricted free agent in 2021.
Acquired: Trade on July 26, 2019
Last season: Jim Rutherford can be prone to exaggeration on occasion.
When the Penguins’ general manager feels he has added a player with a high ceiling, Rutherford will propose that player could be a part of the team for multiple seasons.
For instance, as David Perron arrived in January 2015, Rutherford speculated the top-winger could be in Pittsburgh for “six or seven” years.
That marriage ended by January 2016.
So when Rutherford suggested John Marino could be entrenched on the Penguins’ blue line for 10 years (or more), that forecast should be taken with a grain of salt.
That said, given how composed and poised Marino was in 2019-20 while playing his first professional season, it’s tempting to wonder what he’ll be like as a wily veteran in the 2029-30 campaign.
With the prompting of scout Kevin Stevens and player development head Scott Young, the Penguins quietly plucked Marino, a sixth-round draft pick (No. 154 overall) in 2015, out of the Edmonton Oilers’ pool of prospects during the summer of 2019. After the trade, Marino decided to leave Harvard following his junior season and signed with the Penguins on Aug. 8.
Marino was steady but hardly spectacular during the preseason. Yet, the Penguins opted to keep him on the roster, creating a logjam on the blue line with veterans such as Erik Gudbranson, Juuso Riikola and Chad Ruhwedel all vying for playing time.
After serving as a healthy scratch for the first two games of the season, Marino made his debut Oct. 8. His composure and the Penguins’ salary cap situation prompted management to jettison Gudbranson (and his $4 million salary cap hit) in a trade on Oct. 25.
At first, Marino primarily played on the third pairing with veteran Jack Johnson. But various injuries and absences led to a promotion for Marino to the second pairing where he found quite a bit of chemistry with Marcus Pettersson.
The only thing that forced Marino to leave the lineup was an orbital bone injury he suffered after taking a puck to the face on Feb. 6.
Marino missed 11 games because of the ailment before returning to the lineup and playing in the Penguins’ final five games of the regular season before the NHL halted play because of the coronavirus pandemic.
During the Penguins’ brief four-game run in the playoffs, Marino arguably was the team’s best defenseman — more by default, to be honest — as the Canadiens upset the Penguins in the preliminary round.
Marino finished eighth in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy, which recognizes the NHL’s top rookie. Had it not been for a glut of rookie defensemen such as Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, Marino might have finished higher in that vote.
The future: The Penguins are going to lean on Marino heavily in his second season.
In addition to his regular duties in five-on-five situations with Pettersson, Marino likely will be considered as an option to quarterback the top power-play unit with the departure of right-handed veteran defenseman Justin Schultz this offseason. Marino handled those duties with the second unit throughout the 2019-20 campaign.
And while Marino thrived under the tutelage of former assistant coaches Sergei Gonchar and Jacques Martin, it will be intriguing to see how he functions under their successor, Todd Reirden, a man who also has a strong history of teaching blue liners.
Add in the fact Marino is playing for a new contract and it all adds up to a promising but demanding second act.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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