John Marino ultimately provided the Penguins with more than they ever could have hoped for when they acquired him from the Oilers for a sixth-round pick prior to the start of the 2019-20 season.
In reality, that was the case right away as he made the team out of camp that year and had a phenomenal rookie season. It was such a strong rookie season that some at least entertained the idea that he might be able to eventually take over for Kris Letang as the No. 1 on the back end. The two seasons that followed quickly squashed that possibility.
Marino's performance in his second and third seasons was frustrating for a number of reasons, but he remained a solid and relatively young middle-pairing defenseman with some limitations. Game 7 not withstanding, the 2022 postseason was the closest he got to recapturing the level of his rookie campaign. Sure, it could've been a flash in the pan over a small sample, but it also might've been as simple as things finally starting to click in a top-four, shutdown role.
Ron Hextall traded him to the Devils several months later, anyway.
The trade epitomized Hextall's tenure as general manager of the Penguins. Forget the fact that the centerpiece of the return for Marino, Ty Smith, spent nearly the entirety of the 2022-23 season in the AHL (or that he appears to be a defensively deficient third-pairing NHLer, at best). It's that Marino was shipped out in order to clear cap space for the acquisition of an older, slower and more expensive defenseman in Jeff Petry.
Although I didn't necessarily agree with the way it was navigated, or even taking on the remainder of Petry's contract carrying a $6.25 million cap hit through the 2024-25 season, I was able to get on board with the rationale of pivoting from Marino to Petry on the second pairing. The main reason was that Marino's offensive impact had fallen to the 22nd percentile among NHL defensemen by the end of his time in Pittsburgh, per JFresh Hockey.
Prior to the trades, Mike Matheson was the only Penguins defenseman not named Letang who legitimately drove offense, though he did so in a manner that was predicated on creating individual looks for himself rather than creating looks for his teammates. There was a need for the latter. Petry had taken a step back from the Norris-contender level he was at a couple seasons earlier, but was coming off a season in which his offensive impact was better than 80% of the league on the back end, a good bit of which was thanks to the resurgence he enjoyed after Martin St. Louis took over behind the Canadiens' bench.
If Marino and Petry had performed this past season exactly as they had the previous season, the rearranging of the Penguins' blue line wouldn't look so messy right now. But that's not what happened.
Petry was solid through the first couple months of the season, though I couldn't shake the feeling that he had another gear to reach offensively. The good news was that he was providing solid, if unspectacular, defensive impacts after several seasons ranking a smidge below average. That didn't completely wipe away the loss of Marino's defensive presence, but the hit they took in that area was better than expected and would've been covered up entirely if Petry's offense came around.
The offense came for him in spurts amid an injury-hampered second half. It never came close to reaching the level needed to compensate for the swap, as his offensive impact for the season wound up in the 28th percentile, hardly any better than what Marino provided a season ago.
Marino, on the other hand, instantly endeared himself to Devils fans and even garnered a fair bit of national attention early in the season. He even made his mark on the Devils' Game 7 victory over the Rangers Monday night with a beautiful cut to the slot off the rush before making a slick backhand pass out front for a goal.
It was the exact play everyone in Penguins land had been waiting for him to make before he was traded away:
That's the kind of assertiveness with the puck on his stick that sorely lacked during his time with the Penguins. He would single-handedly stymie the opposition's rush by engulfing the puck carrier, steal the biscuit for himself, skate it across both blue lines with possession ... only to end up in the corner with his back facing the slot. His offensive inefficiencies were so frustrating because he's always had the skating and puck skills to make it happen, but those items never seemed to culminate to any lasting effect when it came to helping his team create.
So, has Marino taken that next step and rounded out his overall impact? Are the Penguins missing out on the Marino they always hoped he could be?
Indeed, he had a strong first season with the Devils. I do think general perception has overblown it a bit, though. It was more about leaning into his certified strengths than refining the offensive component of his game.
The Devils possess what might be the best trio of right-handed defenders in the NHL. Along with Marino, they've got Damon Severson and one of the league's best in Dougie Hamilton. To maximize their deployment, the Devils embraced Marino as their shutdown guy who played against top competition while Hamilton flexed his elite offensive muscle against secondary competition. Severson, who was deployed as their top dog on the blue line just a couple seasons ago before Hamilton was brought in, was then able to feast on lower-level competition in a third-pairing role.
Marino absolutely took care of business the way the Devils wanted him to. Of their six regular defensemen, he was on the ice for the fewest goals against per hour (2.04) and fewest expected goals against per hour (2.39) during 5-on-5 play. That's not even adjusting for his usage against the opposition's best players, those are just the raw on-ice results.
When actually accounting for his deployment (teammates, competition, ice-time, zone starts, etc.), Marino's individual defensive impact ranked in the 96th percentile, which is right on par with the mark he posted in his rookie season. In that aspect, yes, he took the next step considering his defensive impact was just a touch above the 70th percentile in both of the previous two seasons. It's also worth pointing out that the defensive impact from his rookie season was achieved going against an average level of competition. Doing so against the best the opposition has to offer is that much more impressive.
Don't look any further than the aforementioned Game 7 between the Devils and Rangers to uncover why Marino excels at helping limit quality chances against. Right after the opening faceoff, Ryan Graves got burned along the wall, leaving Marino to defend a 2-on-1 against Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
Piece of cake:
Marino then broke up another Zibanejad-Kreider rush into the zone late in the first period by getting his stick on a pass to the middle after recognizing a pass to his check would be the only option. The puck was out of the Devils' zone a moment later, forcing the Rangers to regroup:
Marino's bread and butter is killing plays in transition defense, but he can still take care of business when opponents set up shop in-zone. During the second period, Artemi Panarin looked to escape pressure behind the Devils' net. It was a futile attempt. Marino's anticipation allowed him to swarm the Bread Man before he even knew what was happening. Marino adeptly sealed Panarin off along the boards by establishing inside body positioning, separating him from the puck in the process.
Panarin was able to disrupt Marino's handle on the puck as he looked to exit, but by that point the Devils had adequate support around him and were able to gain possession and clear the zone:
In many ways, Marino exemplifies the modern-day defensive defenseman. He's carved out a career for himself on that alone. But let's go back to that beautiful offensive maneuver that led to a goal. Was that element more prevalent in his game this season? Not exactly.
He did post the second-highest 5-on-5 primary assist rate of his career (0.55 per hour). The rate at which he produced points at 5-on-5 (0.72 per hour) ranked third out of his four seasons and didn't really come close to his mark of 1.16 per hour during his rookie season.
Point production doesn't always tell the story of how a defenseman is impacting offensive generation, which is where on-ice metrics come into play. During Marino's full-strength ice-time, the Devils scored 2.51 goals per hour (fifth out of six regular defensemen) and generated 2.78 expected goals per hour, which was last among their blue liners by a considerable margin.
Again, those are just the raw on-ice results. Adjusting for usage and deployment, his offensive impact ranked in the 13th percentile, the lowest it has dipped in his career. The Devils were an elite offensive team this season, just not so much when Marino was out there. And that's OK because they had Hamilton and Severson carrying the offensive burden while Marino was tasked with suppressing elite competition.
The Devils' available personnel on the blue line allowed them to get the most out of Marino's defensive strengths without a care as to how much he helped them offensively. Would it have been the same with the Penguins this season? I have my doubts.
Either way, don't succumb to the idea that Marino left the Penguins and suddenly became this two-way world beater. He's not an entirely different player now compared to when he was shipped out. His defensive impact has gotten even better. His offensive impact has gotten worse. The Devils made it work.
