The Devils and Penguins combined in a trade of defenseman that could accomplish important (if quite different) things for both teams.
Devils trade for: John Marino (25, $4.4 million cap hit through 2026-27)
Penguins receive: Ty Smith, 2023 third-round pick
With Marino trade, Devils could end up with strong right-side defense
Curiously, the Devils are a team that possesses at least one (relative) strength that other teams seek out: right-handed/right-side defensemen.
In this case, the Devils move out a young right-handed defenseman who struggled (especially in 2021-22) for a more established RHD in John Marino.
While the Devils boast a fancy stats dynamo — almost curiously so — in Jonas Siegenthaler on the left, the rest of their most noteworthy defensemen play on the right: Dougie Hamilton, Marino, and Damon Severson.
In the cases of Hamilton (29, $9 million cap hit through 2027-28) and now Marino, the Devils are paying out significant term and money for those defensemen. Severson’s situation is cloudier, as the 27-year-old carries a $4.16667M cap hit — but just for next season.
Although it likely stings to miss out on Johnny Gaudreau (for whatever reason[s]), the Devils have been active this offseason. Between Ondrej Palat and Marino, they’ve added $10.4M and some support to their roster.
Marino brings quite a bit to the table.
Penguins clear cap space after keeping most of the band together
After tensions rose, the Penguins convinced Evgeni Malkin to stick around. Even with all of Malkin, Kris Letang, and Bryan Rust taking less in salary cap terms than they (likely) would’ve fetched as free agents, the Penguins still likely realized that those retentions would mean someone else would be out.
(Really, they might have viewed their defense that way even without those signings.)
That became even clearer when the Penguins somewhat-surprisingly signed Jan Rutta to a three-year deal with a $2.75M cap hit.
[Related: 2022 NHL Free Agency Tracker]
It’s possible that there could even be more shuffling. Cap Friendly lists Ty Smith, Jan Rutta, and Kris Letang among eight defensemen, and that’s without Pierre-Oliver Joseph in that mix.
Could the Penguins also clear salary cap space (and spots in the rotation) by moving one or more of Mike Matheson, Brian Dumoulin, and Marcus Pettersson? All three carry $4M+ cap hits. Dumoulin has a no-trade clause, Pettersson’s term may scare teams off, and Matheson features both trade protection and the sort of term that makes trades more challenging.
So, it might have been easier to get Marino off the books first. Maybe there’s room for one more? Kasperi Kapanen‘s a pending RFA with salary arbitration rights, so if the Penguins don’t move on, they might want extra breathing room. Cap Friendly places the Penguins’ salary cap space at $3.34M after the Marino trade.
A reclamation project in Smith?
From Justin Schultz to John Marino himself, the Penguins display a recent history of getting the most out of intriguing-if-struggling defensemen. Maybe they can work that magic again with Smith?
Smith, 22, carries some pedigree as the 17th pick of the 2018 NHL Draft.
Alarmingly, Smith sunk as a sophomore after a reasonably promising rookie season. That can be seen in many ways, including Smith’s ice time slipping from 20:07 per night in 2020-21 to just 17:30 per game last season.
Even if Hamilton ate into those numbers, his drop in play justified less reps.
Yet, the primary goal of the Marino trade was to gain salary cap space for the Penguins. If they can unlock some untapped potential in Ty Smith, it could be a really nice move.
As it stands, this seems like strong work by New Jersey, and Pittsburgh deal with cap realities.
More NHL News
Free agent moves highlight Kraken’s mixed present, future outlook Senators vastly improved, may set up salary cap problems After missing on Gaudreau, where do Islanders go next?
—
James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.
Trade: Devils land Marino, Penguins gain salary cap space originally appeared on NBCSports.com
