Utah Acquires John Marino

Utah Acquires John Marino

The Utah Hockey Club (formerly the Coyotes) entered this offseason with zero defensemen signed under contract. With mountains of cap space, Utah has aggressively went out and added to the blue line that doesn’t have any players signed. They struck a deal with Tampa Bay for Mikhail Sergachev. They’re also adding John Marino via trade with New Jersey.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was the first to report the news. Marino goes to Utah along with pick 153 in the draft. The Devils acquire pick 49 and the Edmonton Oilers’ 2025 second-round pick. He also mentions that this trade opens the door for Tarrytown, New York native Brett Pesce to sign with the Devils.

Marino, 27, notched four goals and 21 assists in 75 games a season ago. He’s a really good puck mover and strong in the defensive part of the game.

With Sergachev and Marino on board, Utah has at least part of a respectable blue line assembled. Hopefully, Sean Durzi will be locked up too long term who is a pending RFA. Utah still has space to do more damage in free agency coming up on Monday.

The Devils have made a ton of moves but it’s hard to hate this deal. They acquired Marino for pennies from Pittsburgh and sold him for much more. Plus, they’re adding a better version of the same player with Pesce. The right side of the Devils’ blue line will likely be Dougie Hamilton, Pesce, and Simon Nemec. Not bad!!!

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