Injured Utah Hockey Club defensemen John Marino and Sean Durzi were full participants at team practice today (as per Brogan Houston of Deseret News Sports). Houston also added that Utah head coach Andre Tourigny believes that both players are still on their original timelines, meaning that they probably won’t be in the lineup during Utah’s homestand, although Marino looks to be closer to returning than Durzi.
The update is welcome news for Utah as injuries have depleted their back end this season, particularly in the cases of Marino and Durzi who have combined to play just four games and were expected to shoulder large workloads this season.
Marino has yet to play for Utah after coming over in a summer trade from New Jersey. The 27-year-old has been sidelined since the start of the regular season with a lower-back injury. Marino had back surgery in late October and will need a reasonable amount of time to get himself into game shape. However, his shedding of the no-contact jersey is certainly an encouraging sign for Marino and Utah. Marino fell out of favor in New Jersey last season. However, he endured very difficult deployment with the Devils and still managed reasonable possession numbers, posting a CF% of 51.1% despite starting 55% of his shifts in the defensive zone.
Durzi has seen some action this season, dressing in four games back in early October. The 26-year-old suffered a shoulder injury in an October 14th game against New Jersey and was thought to be lost for a period of 4-6 months. Given that he is practicing in a regular jersey this early, it seems likely that Durzi will return in the early or middle part of the 4–6-month timeline.
Great news for Utah! This group is really gonna turn the corner in the second half of the season.
Amazing what they have done without these two. And they are not that far from a playoff spot, and given that they are coming out of a horrendous problem with their arena and having to forfeit their second-round selection in the 2020 draft and their first-round pick in the 2021 draft, they have gathered great forwards and now a very good defense, and have a very bright future.