Penguins
PENGUINS TRADE: John Marino to Devils, Sets Up More Trades
The Pittsburgh Penguins found their trade. And it appears they are set up for more action on the NHL trade market, too.
After days of stirring the trade rumors when GM Ron Hextall openly admitted the team would not carry nine defensemen next season, and one or two would go, Hextall sent right-handed d-man John Marino to the New Jersey Devils for Ty Smith and a third-round pick.
Marino’s contract comes off the Penguins’ books. He has five more years with a $4.4 million AAV.
Smith, 22, was the 17th overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft. He’s an offensive defenseman in whom many still see top-four defenseman potential. However, he had a tough year in New Jersey with just 20 points (5-15-20) and was a minus-26.
Smith has played in 114 NHL games over two seasons and scored seven goals with 36 assists.
National Hockey Now prospects chief Marco D’Amico said, “Really good youngster, mobile and top-4 to be for sure.”
The 5-foot-11 180-pound defenseman is left-handed, which gives the Penguins six lefties under contract, including Mark Friedman, who can play both sides. Marcus Pettersson, Brian Dumoulin, P.O Joseph and Mike Matheson are the others.
Removing Marino’s cap hit but adding another defenseman would appear to set up another trade as the Penguins still have nine defensemen. Smith’s cap hit is only 863k. He will enter the third year of his three-year ELC and be a restricted free agent after this coming season.
The Pittsburgh Penguins now have about $3.2 million in free cap space, pending a contract for RFA Kasperi Kapanen.
Update: GM Ron Hextall confirmed Smith is waivers exempt. He could be placed in the minors if the situation dictates.
The #NJDevils acquired 25 y/o RD John Marino (Yr 2/6 $4.4M Cap Hit) from #LetsGoPens for 22 y/o LD Ty Smith (Yr 3/3 $863K Cap Hit then RFA) & '23 3rd Round Pick#Pens save & #NJDevils add $3.54M Cap Hit in Dealhttps://t.co/eaDx6xonUN
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 16, 2022
Molinari: Buy Mike a Flag … and Get a Statue, too
Dan’s Daily: NHL Trade Winds Blowing West, Circling Former Penguins for Vegas
Best Steelers Bets vs. Seahawks Preview; Free $50 DraftKings Promo
Here’s How to Sign Up for Barstool Sportsbook in PA
Dan’s Daily: Goalies on the Trade Block, Team USA Cruising at WJC
PHN Blog: Comparing Bergeron & Malkin Contracts, Penguins Have Options
PHN Blog: The Curse of Fleury Strikes Vegas, Will the Penguins be Affected?
Anderson: Penguins Core Should be 4; Marc-Andre Fleury Legacy
Molinari: Building Up Penguins’ Infrastructure is Wise Investment
Correction-Friedman is right handed but often played the left side
LOL we know
Dan Kingerski, any chance this pick up is just a waiver wire trade, when we wave him and hope he gets picked up, and not lose much but 4.4 million off the cap?
Smith is on a two way contract. They can just leave him in the minors if they don’t have anywhere to play him right now
Didn’t see anywhere in the article were it was a two way contract, but I also did google him either, I just read what was in front of me.
Would be silly to waive a 22 year old defenseman with potential as well lol but yeah, 2 way deal. Waivers exempt.
This trade seems like a decent recovery from one of FGMJR’s over pays. And JR won’t be around next year to offer Ty a $4+ million contract! Lol.
Yep a decent pick and youngster with potential plus money out the door. My guess is that was the 3 requirements hextall had in place to make a trade. It just happened to come in conference from tom f.
Hextall makes another great move!
And the Pens still have 9 Dmen after the trade, that is wild. What is Hextall cooking up!?
Cooking up cap space.
Not the trade I was expecting. Hextall better have more than this planned. Meanwhile, we could have had a third line of Dylan Strome, Zach Sanford, and Jarnkrok for $6.45M. Maybe pickup the phone and make some calls. I’ll volunteer to do it.
Pretty sure this is a precursor to another move, or two.
Overall I’m happy with the trade, I’d rather have seen MP go instead but I’m happy with the return. Marino is about the age where most player have started to plateau and I feel he has he pretty much is what he is at this point, a solid 4/5 two way dman. Ty Smith has a lot more potential and just a couple years ago was considered NJ’s best prospect, he has potential to turn into a Tyson Barrie type Dman plus the pens got a 3rd rounder plus 4+ million in cap space. I’d be shocked if the pens… Read more »
Maybe ONE of those D men might actually play defense. To me there is no such thing as an “offensive” D man unless it is of the verbal / physical abusive variety. But then that’s in the goon category.
I think I heard Friedman say that he got kicked out of Hebrew school (just like his dad). That’s probably offensive, eh? 😆
Now trade POJ, Petey, & a 7th round pick (Pens have 3) for JT Miller.
A 99 point scorer for 2 3rd pair defenseman?
So now you trade Matheson for a 6 year older Defenseman in Petry who Makes more a million or more in salary a year. Doesn’t make any sense even in the Extra player coming here.
I agree, more moves still need to be made though. The rhd is upgraded now for sure though. Petry was a beast against the pens and during their run to the final.