Headlines

  • Blue Jackets Recall Kent Johnson, Place Damon Severson On IR
  • Detroit Red Wings Sign Patrick Kane
  • Blackhawks Place Corey Perry On Waivers, Intend To Terminate Contract
  • Minnesota Wild Fire Dean Evason, Name John Hynes Head Coach
  • Nico Hischier Activated Off IR, On The Ice For Warmups
  • Corey Perry To Be Away From Blackhawks For Foreseeable Future
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Arizona Coyotes
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Devils Acquire John Marino

July 16, 2022 at 12:03 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 18 Comments

The Devils and Penguins have swapped defensemen as New Jersey has acquired defenseman John Marino from Pittsburgh in exchange for blueliner Ty Smith and a 2023 third-round pick.  Both teams have announced the swap.  Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald released the following statement:

John is a competitive, highly mobile defenseman who strengthens our back end. He takes pride in his game away from the puck and his puck management and ability to transition play will fit in nicely with our style and the strengths of our forward group. This is another move focused on improving our club today, while also providing certainty and stability for roster flexibility as we continue to build.

The 25-year-old Marino made an immediate impact in his rookie season back in 2019-20, recording 26 points in 56 games.  Pittsburgh had acquired his rights from Edmonton in the 2019 offseason for a sixth-round pick and that type of immediate return was quite impressive.  So much so, in fact, that then-GM Jim Rutherford handed Marino a six-year, $26.4MM contract back in January of 2021, a deal that still has five years remaining.

However, things didn’t go as well for Marino and the Penguins since then.  He struggled in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign before rebounding a little bit last season, recording a goal and 24 assists in 81 games while still logging over 20 minutes a night, a number that jumped to over 23 minutes per contest in their first-round playoff loss to the Rangers.

In Marino, New Jersey gets a defender that is capable of playing top-four minutes now as evidenced by the fact that he has averaged over 20 minutes per contest over each of his three NHL seasons.  A right-shot rearguard, Marino also gives them some insurance on the right side with Damon Severson a year away from unrestricted free agency.  If he departs next summer, Marino could simply take Severson’s spot behind Dougie Hamilton on their depth chart which is likely the stability for roster flexibility that Fitzgerald spoke of in his statement.

As for Smith, the 22-year-old was a first-round pick of the Devils back in 2018 (17th overall) and made a very strong first impression in his rookie year in 2020-21 when he picked up 23 points in 48 games while averaging over 20 minutes a game himself.  However, things certainly did not go well last season as his production dropped to 20 points in 66 contests while his defensive metrics took a tumble.  Nevertheless, he’s certainly young enough to rebound not unlike Marino did last season.

While Smith is an intriguing addition, the key to the trade for Pittsburgh might very well be the financial flexibility gained.  Smith still has a year to go on his entry-level deal, one that carries a cap hit of just $863K plus an additional $400K in performance bonuses.  Compared to Marino’s $4.4MM cap charge, Pittsburgh has freed up over $3.5MM in cap space for next season (not including the bonuses).  That money is basically all of the cap space they have left which they will need in order to re-sign RFA winger Kasperi Kapanen this summer.

It’s also worth noting that Pittsburgh now has a bit of a logjam on the left side of their back end with Smith joining lefties Brian Dumoulin, Michael Matheson, and Marcus Pettersson.  The Penguins have been known to be shopping Pettersson in the past and this type of move could very well intensify the desire to get a trade done, especially if they can free up a little more cap flexibility in the process.

As for New Jersey’s offseason, there is still a lot of work to be done.  Per CapFriendly, the Devils have just under $13MM in cap space left following this trade with a big chunk of that set to go to RFA winger Jesper Bratt.  Forwards Miles Wood and Jesper Boqvist also need new deals as does recent acquisition Vitek Vanecek; the netminder is in his final year of RFA eligibility and will be looking at a significant raise after making the league minimum the last three years.  As a result, their heavy lifting in terms of adding to their roster may be finished with the focus now turning to re-signing their RFAs.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

New Jersey Devils| Newsstand| Pittsburgh Penguins| Transactions John Marino| Ty Smith

Metropolitan Notes: Jarry, Rangers, Morrow
Main
Minnesota Signs Liam Ohgren
View Comments (18)

Comments

  1. Gbear

    1 year ago

    Nice move by NJ.

    4
    Reply
  2. Mikey Rags

    1 year ago

    Better move by Pitt

    3
    Reply
  3. DarkSide830

    1 year ago

    Wow that was unexpected.

    Reply
    • Nha Trang

      1 year ago

      Unexpected? Not really. There’s been talk of moving Marino for some time now. And this bumps their cap space back over $6MM, which certainly gives them enough to re-sign Kapanen and gives them a shot at keeping Rodrigues or Heinen. It’s a sound move.

      Reply
    • MoneyBallJustWorks

      1 year ago

      yes roll out the exact same lineup that was ineffective this past post season

      4
      Reply
    • 66TheNumberOfTheBest

      1 year ago

      That lineup skated circles around the Rangers.

      It took BOTH of having an AHL goalie in net AND Crosby getting hurt or else they win in 5.

      Reply
  4. curtism88

    1 year ago

    For Devils fans, what kind of players are the Penguins getting? I don’t know much about Ty Smith…

    Reply
    • Goku the All Knowing

      1 year ago

      looks like Pens are adding assets to make a move for JT Miller or a big winger

      Reply
    • SuperSinker

      1 year ago

      The Canucks coveted Marino.

      They’d be silly to acquire LD with Hughes and OEL there.

      Reply
    • a dawg

      1 year ago

      All offense defense was a struggle rookie year

      after rookie year and paired with pk took a literal nose dive defensively and in sheltered minutes points were a struggle too.

      Reply
  5. Grocery stick

    1 year ago

    Good move for both of them, actually. Marino isn’t a bad player. Just probably not worth his contract. That contract is a problem for the Penguins who are tight on cap space. NJ can easily take him on while still improving their defense.

    Will be interesting to see Ty Smith’s progession. I liked him a lot in his rookie season. But this season was rather disappointing.

    Reply
  6. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    1 year ago

    In a vacuum, this is an OK move, I guess…a cheaper former first round pick who showed some things before getting passed up on the depth chart and a 3rd for a guy you have on the block to clear cap.

    BUT…we still have 9 NHL defenseman (unless they are sending Smith to WBS) and still need a LW, so I think we are still making another trade. Hard to judge yet.

    Also, Smith seems to profile a LOT like POJ. Not sure you need a bunch of that same type of player on your blue line.

    Reply
  7. jdgoat

    1 year ago

    Wish Ottawa would have been in on him. Probably would have been the cheapest of the top 4 RHD’s that are possibly available to acquire.

    Reply
  8. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    1 year ago

    Did Nino Niederreiter get stuck with no chair when the music stopped? Or does he and every other unsigned free agent have a secret handshake deal with Lou Lamorello that will be announced in mid-August?

    If his price drops enough, Nino on a line with Geno (aside from the rhyme thing which makes me want to forget the whole idea) and Rakell would be pretty great.

    Guentzel Crosby Rust
    Nino Geno Rakell
    Zucker Carter Kapanen

    I could also see Milano as a cheap dice roll to play with Geno, as well, but that line would need to be very very sheltered.

    Reply
    • MoneyBallJustWorks

      1 year ago

      can the pens convince dino ciccarelli to join the team.

      the Dino, Geno, Nino line

      2
      Reply
    • 66TheNumberOfTheBest

      1 year ago

      I know most fans bases hated Dino. No one hated Dino more than Pens fans.

      Reply
  9. WilfPaiement

    1 year ago

    Jersey Is building a nice young talented group, Fitzgerald Is on the ball! Now all they need Is a coach.

    1
    Reply
  10. Michalelchavisbooty

    1 year ago

    This seems curious

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Blue Jackets Recall Kent Johnson, Place Damon Severson On IR

    Detroit Red Wings Sign Patrick Kane

    Blackhawks Place Corey Perry On Waivers, Intend To Terminate Contract

    Minnesota Wild Fire Dean Evason, Name John Hynes Head Coach

    Nico Hischier Activated Off IR, On The Ice For Warmups

    Corey Perry To Be Away From Blackhawks For Foreseeable Future

    Maple Leafs Place John Klingberg On LTIR, Recall Alex Steeves

    Lightning Waive Matt Tomkins, Prepared To Activate Andrei Vasilevskiy

    Taylor Hall Out For The Season Due To Knee Surgery

    Damon Severson Out 6 Weeks With Oblique Injury

    Recent

    Jets Activate Gabriel Vilardi

    Avalanche Recall Sam Malinski

    Blue Jackets Recall Kent Johnson, Place Damon Severson On IR

    Kraken Place Jaden Schwartz On Injured Reserve

    Maple Leafs Recall Maxime Lajoie, Mark Giordano Out Week-To-Week

    What Your Team Is Thankful For: Chicago Blackhawks

    Snapshots: Kane, Perry, Near

    Vegas Golden Knights Sign Jordan Gustafson To Entry-Level Contract

    Shea Theodore Week-To-Week After Successful Surgery

    Injury Notes: Chabot, Martin, Hamilton

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Coyotes Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version