Penguins pick up defense prospect John Marino in trade with Edmonton
The Pittsburgh Penguins took a stab at acquiring a prospect on defense Friday, trading a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2021 draft to the Edmonton Oilers for John Marino.
The Oilers will acquire the pick if Marino, a rising senior at Harvard, signs with the Penguins before the 2021 draft. Marino, Edmonton’s sixth-round pick in the 2015 draft, could play out his senior season without signing a contract and become an unrestricted free agent on Aug. 15, 2020. If he does that, the Penguins will owe Edmonton nothing.
“John is a mobile defenseman who excels at moving the puck while also playing with an edge to his game,” general manager Jim Rutherford said in a release. “We are excited to acquire him as we continue to add defensive depth to the organization. The next step is to work on getting a contract done with him.”
Marino, 22, is a 6-foot-2, two-way right-handed defenseman who skates well. In his freshman and sophomore seasons at Harvard, he totaled 31 points and a plus-41 rating. As a junior, he had three goals, 11 points and a minus-3 rating.
Marino is the second defensive prospect the Penguins have traded for this summer. They acquired 20-year-old Pierre-Olivier Joseph in the Phil Kessel deal last month. Defense has been a shallow part of the team’s prospect pool for a few years.
Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.
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