Utah defensemen Sean Durzi and John Marino have both undergone surgeries that will see them sit out most of the season, the team announced. Durzi will be out four to six months after having his right shoulder surgically repaired, while Marino will miss three to four months after undergoing surgery to address a lower back issue. The team later said that they’ve recalled 2022 first-rounder Maveric Lamoureux from AHL Tucson, but with a full 23-man roster, there’s still a corresponding move coming.
The team didn’t disclose when each player underwent surgery. However, if Durzi underwent it within the last few days, a six-month timeline would mean his regular season is over after just four appearances. Meanwhile, Marino should return in the lead-up to or after the league’s schedule pauses for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. Both players are already on injured reserve, and with over $8MM in cap space, a transfer to LTIR is unlikely for either.
It’s a regrettable development for both players and the team, although it’s not unexpected. Reports from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff indicated earlier this month that an absence of at least four months awaited Durzi. Utah head coach André Tourigny said last Friday that Marino would still be unavailable for “months.”
Durzi, who turned 26 on Monday, is in the first year of the four-year, $24MM extension he signed in June to keep him off this summer’s RFA market. Acquired by the Coyotes from the Kings in the 2023 offseason, he excelled in a top-pairing role in the desert, controlling 54.8% of shot attempts at even strength and posting 41 points (9 G, 32 A) in 76 games. Unfortunately, he’ll now miss most of his first season under that contract.
The 2018 second-round pick of the Maple Leafs has been traded twice – first from Toronto to Los Angeles in 2019’s Jake Muzzin trade and again from L.A. to Arizona in 2023. He’s now averaged 20:48 per game across 216 NHL appearances, recording 108 points with a -20 rating but a strong 51.8 CF%. Through four games this year before sustaining the injury on a hit from Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler over a week ago, he had two assists and a +2 rating.
Durzi is a left-shot but played the right side throughout much of last season in Arizona. He did so again to begin 2024-25, suiting up on the right side on Utah’s first pairing alongside offseason trade acquisition Mikhail Sergachev. With Marino also out long-term, Utah will be without its top two right defensemen for most of its inaugural season.
Marino, also a trade pickup by general manager Bill Armstrong over the summer, has yet to play a game for Utah. He sustained the back injury during offseason training and never practiced with the team during training camp. He was initially listed as week-to-week and was later upgraded to day-to-day, signaling a potential return was near, but an evident setback landed him on IR to start the regular season.
Despite their recent aggressiveness in the trade market, don’t expect Utah to swing a deal for a right-shot defenseman in the coming days. Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports they “intend to lean on internal solutions,” at least for now. One of those internal solutions is the 20-year-old Lamoureux, a hulking 6’7″ right-shot defender who’s off to a hot start with Tucson in his first professional season. The former QMJHL champion and All-Star has two goals and an assist through his first four AHL games.
Utah’s injured players were already on IR before today’s news, so they’re likely sending someone down to accommodate Lamoureux’s addition to the roster. That will be depth defender Patrik Koch, Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Utah recalled the 27-year-old last week after Durzi’s injury, but he was a healthy scratch in three straight contests. Koch, a mainstay in pro leagues in Czechia and Slovakia, jumped to North America with the Coyotes organization last season. He spent most of the year in Tucson but made his NHL debut in March, posting a shot on goal and receiving a 10-minute misconduct penalty in a game against the Wild.
Lamoureux joins Robert Bortuzzo and Michael Kesselring as the right-shot defensemen on Utah’s active roster. However, both Ian Cole and Juuso Välimäki can and have played on their off side in recent days. He could make his NHL debut tomorrow against the Avalanche.