Extending With the Mammoth Was a No-Brainer for John Marino

For the past couple of seasons, general manager Bill Armstrong has made it a priority of his to lock down his core players to long-term extensions. Since arriving in Utah, he’s signed Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, Nick Schmaltz, Karel Vejmelka, and Jack McBain to contracts five years or longer. 

Not only does the long term secure the player’s future in Utah, but it also helps lower the annual average value (AAV) because it provides stability and guaranteed money over a long period. Armstrong compares it to a pizza that everyone has to share.

“As we move forward, you can see our team starting to have a lot of players on our team sign long-term deals, and you’ve got to be able to fit all the money,” Armstrong said. “I always say it’s like a big pizza, and everybody gets a little slice, and if someone takes too much of the pizza, not everybody eats.”

Tuesday brought John Marino a slice of that pizza for the next eight years, locking down one of the Mammoth’s most important defensemen. With his contract expiring next summer and the eight-year deal option being only available until September, Armstrong wasted no time locking up the most underrated defenseman on the team.

Another Eight Years of Reliable Defense

Staying in Utah was a no-brainer for Marino. While the defenseman hasn’t moved around a lot compared to others in the NHL, he has been property of four different teams across his eight seasons. Marino was originally an Edmonton Oilers draft pick. His rights were traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he played for three seasons before being flipped to the New Jersey Devils. After three more seasons, the defenseman found himself being traded to Utah.

Stability is something a lot of NHLers want. Sometimes, moving everywhere from team to team isn’t ideal, especially when you’re older or raising a family. 

That won’t be something Marino will have to worry about with his new contract. His extension carries a no-movement/no-trade clause for the first four seasons, followed by a modified no-trade clause in the final four years.

Having job security like that is huge for Marino. His family doesn’t live in Utah but loves coming out to see him play. Now that his future is set in stone with the Mammoth, planning visits will be an easy thing for the Marino family.

“It’s huge, especially for my family that’s not there too,” Marino said. “They can come out and visit. They have over the last couple of years, and they loved it. Just being around those types of people and how welcoming everyone is in the community as well. They were super stoked about it as well.”

Come next July, Marino could’ve signed a long-term contract with any team in the NHL, but again, choosing the option to stay in Utah was a no-brainer. Why leave somewhere where you’ve played your best hockey?

Last season, Marino was one of the best defensemen in the league. He finished with a career-high 36 points thanks to a career-high 32 assists. While that number didn’t get him close to the top of the leaderboard (Evan Bouchard finished first with 74 assists), what did was his plus-minus stat line. He finished as a plus-42, tied with Josh Manson for second among defensemen, with Sam Malinski finishing first as a plus-43. He was sixth in the entire NHL, with everyone in front of him being either nominated for a major NHL award or on the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche.

Yes, plus-minus isn’t the best stat to rely on, but you have to watch him to see how good he is defensively. Marino does not make mistakes often. He was fourth in giveaways among the six Mammoth defensemen who played 60 games or more and third in takeaways.

Offensively, while Marino won’t be known for having highlight-reel goals, he’s well known for moving the puck up ice efficiently to help goals eventually be scored. He was first among Mammoth defenseman in on-ice expected goals % and second in assists per 60 minutes. That ability to help others produce makes many on the team want to be on the ice at the same time as Marino.

“He brings a different element to our group,” Armstrong said. “He can really move a puck. He is an elite puck mover. If you just watch how many times coming out of the zone, he just puts it on the forward tape in motion. He really creates offense from the backside for us. He’s just had a huge effect on our group.”

It’s not just made his game effective, but it’s also helped create a great pairing with Nate Schmidt, who Marino was paired with for most of last season. The duo was in the NHL’s bottom 40 in goals against per 60 minutes. Even crazier is that Schmidt and Marino had the second most minutes paired together in that group, only behind Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen.

Schmidt was one of the Mammoth’s big free agency signings last summer, coming off a season where he proved he can still be effective in the NHL, winning a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. Marino was coming off an injury-riddled season where he never really had a permanent partner on the blueline. There was a lot of uncertainty for the two and their roles with the Mammoth, but in the end, the two became inseparable. A combo that’s perfect together, like peanut butter and jelly.

“You could see this chemistry right away from the start with Nate Schmidt,” Armstrong said. “They just move as one out there, and they’re pretty special to watch. It started right away with them. It’s nice as we move forward and we become a better team here; you need pairings that really work together, and Nate Schmidt and Johnny Marino just go together.”

A Bright Future Worth Being a Part Of

The highlights don’t end at Marino playing the best hockey of his career with the Mammoth. He’s also on a team just on the cusp of beginning their contention window. Last season was a big step for the team, making the playoffs for the first time in history. Cooley and Guenther showed massive signs of growth, and rookies like Dmitri Simashev and Daniil But looked promising in appearances. The Mammoth also had a big summer, bringing in Anders Lee and trading for Vincent Trocheck. The future is extremely bright, something that Marino is excited about.

“There’s a lot to look forward to, especially based on last year,” Marino said. “How tight that series was with Vegas, and then they made their Stanley Cup Final run. We saw how far they went. We’re a young team and still have so much to look forward to. It speaks for itself.”

When it comes to the Mammoth’s side of things, it was a no-brainer as well. Marino’s extension will take him until 2035, around the same time a lot of the core players’ contracts end. It allows the team to continue rolling out the same competitive team without worrying about players demanding raises because of continuous improvement personally and as a team.

Eight years might seem long. However, how many other players are easily accessible who are top-four defensemen on a team with solid defensive stats like Marino? Why give up assets to acquire something you already had at a point? When you have a player like him that fits in so well and wants to be with your team, the common sense would be to keep that player as long as possible. With the rising cap as well, getting an eight-year deal done before that option goes away permanently was the right move.

“The NHL is changing and weaving,” Armstrong said. “Young kids are signing five-year deals, and you see offer sheets; it’s changing a little bit. If you can find the right player, be able to bring them back on an eight-year deal, you believe in the player, and they could be good for the club long term, it’s really effective. With Johnny, he fits right into that category.”

With a $6.75 million annual average value (AAV), it’s not a super-rich contract either, especially with the rising cap in mind. Out of the team’s top three defensemen, it slots him in as the second highest paid, behind Mikhail Sergachev. It also allows more of the “pizza” that Armstrong mentioned to be shared with the two final core pieces that will need to be locked up to expensive long-term deals in the next two seasons: Lawson Crouse and Clayton Keller.

If you’re a Mammoth fan, you have to love this deal. Not only does the team keep one of their most trustworthy and reliable defensemen around for the next eight years, but they also keep around a player who truly loves playing and living in Utah, and believes in what they’re building.

“Ryan and Ashley, the job they’ve done creating a winning environment, a place where players want to be, it goes from the new practice facility, them being on top of everything and doing everything so quick,” Marino said. “I just saw today Bill touched on players are changing where they want to go. They want to come to Utah because of the special place that they’ve made it. The support from the fans and everything has exceeded expectations. It’s been unbelievable.”

Marino is the type of player any team would love to have. Yes, his puck-moving skills are fantastic, and he’s able to play high minutes. However, more than that, he’s a very likeable teammate that everyone loves to be around. To have that for the next eight years is exciting for everyone within the Mammoth organization.

“He’s a positive player every time he’s on the ice,” Armstrong said. “Good things happen, and he makes everybody better around him. That’s why you see the love from his teammates. I know when he signed, everybody on the team was really pumped just because. The forwards were really excited about getting that puck for the next eight years in motion on their tape.”

Bringing back Marino was an easy choice for the Mammoth. Why punt an easy decision down the road? The team wanted him, and he wanted to be in Utah. With everything the defenseman brings to the Mammoth, sharing a slice of the pizza for the next eight years was something Armstrong made sure was at the top of his to-do list this summer.