The Utah Hockey Club could have top-four shutdown defender John Marino in the lineup for the first time this season tonight against the Canadiens. Head coach André Tourigny told Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune that he’ll be a game-time decision and could come off injured reserve after warmups.
Winger Dylan Guenther was placed on injured reserve to create the necessary roster spot to activate Marino, according to the NHL’s media portal. The 21-year-old was diagnosed with a lower-body injury last week and is out indefinitely.
Utah acquired Marino, 27, from the Devils on the second day of the 2024 draft in exchange for the No. 49 pick. The Massachusetts native had been a top-four fixture on New Jersey’s blue line for the past two seasons and had averaged over 20 minutes per game through his first five NHL seasons, but the Devils needed cap space to pursue unrestricted free agents Brenden Dillon and Brett Pesce.
Marino, now in the fourth season of a six-year, $26.4MM contract he signed with the Penguins in 2021, was projected to serve as a top-four anchor in Utah’s first season to complement the more offensively inclined Sean Durzi and Mikhail Sergachev. Instead, he sustained a lower back injury shortly before training camp and eventually went under the knife in October.
Durzi underwent surgery to repair his right shoulder at the same time after just four games, leaving Utah without two of its best defensemen for the vast majority of the season. They’ve managed to stay in the playoff hunt, going 18-17-7 through 42 games to sit six points out of a playoff spot, but they’re fading fast with a 2-6-2 record in their last 10 games.
Marino’s imminent return and Durzi’s being on the horizon should help aid the club in the lengthy absence of Guenther, their leading goal-scorer this season with 16 through 40 games. The former joins a defense that’s done as well as could be hoped for while shorthanded, ranking 17th in the league with 2.39 expected goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck. Netminder Karel Vejmelka, who’s exploded for a .916 SV% and 14.1 goals saved above expected, has kept Utah’s actual goals against per game to 2.93, 13th-best in the league.
He won’t do much to aid a bottom-10 offense, but Marino’s return will eventually allow for easier matchups for overmatched role players like Ian Cole, Michael Kesselring, and Olli Määttä. Utah will ease him back in, though, and the righty will start in a third-pairing role alongside Juuso Välimäki if he can play, per Brogan Houston of Deseret News.
Marino enters his Utah era with 18 goals, 89 assists, 107 points, and a +38 rating in 328 career NHL games with the Devils and Penguins.