Looks great on paper. Had a terrific rookie season, overshadowed by Makar and Hughes... Pens gotta hope he doesn't pull a Brady Skjei and peak in his rookie year though.

This is a steal of a deal. I'm almost shocked he signed it.
But 4 mil range for a 2D is pretty good he has real potential to be a 1D. Only think stopping him is Letang in his way.
I had him at 6 mil.
I think the real kicker is, it's like what a day after PLD signed a 2 year deal with CBJ. Ouch. Rivalry gonna smoldering there.

Really does a lot for cap certainty going forward though on these ACGMs that we'll all butcher up.

Marino was not only integral to the Penguins, but one of the better defensemen in the league last year. Contract looking like a steal if he stays on his current level.

Do I sense a fellow bills fan!??

Boi got 56 games under his belt and looking at some he's on his path to the hall of fame. I have no hope that he fails but he wouldn't be the first one year wonder that we'd witness in our lifetime. Money's good but that's some term and looking at the numbers it seems to be buyout proof as most of the money is split in the last four years of the deal.

I still like the signing but comes with some risks, JR doesn't care cause he'll be shown the door before the third year of that deal.

In the year of the 1-2 year deal this seems like a 20 year contract.

What separates Marino from Skjei is his defensive reliability. Marino also produced all of his offense at 5on5. This is a great contract, imo.

I will say that Skjei's defensive numbers were very good with Carolina this postseason. Hopefully that continues, because the Skjei that showed up in the bubble is a $5M defenseman.

Kid has alot of upside and was real good but 56 games and signed to a 6 year deal. Idk it m8ght be worth letting him play 1 more season even if it costs you more in the long run.

LOL sure bud sure. He will be the next Bobby Orr (Or any elite two way guy for that matter)



I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!!!

Woah Woah you didn't have to go that far. You have a great comp. on your team in Letang lol

THE BEST News to come out of Pittsburgh in quit some time! This is an absolutely awesome contract for the TEAM. He is our potential #1 RHD man when Letang retires or moves on and this fills a HUGE spot for 6 years with a Kid who gets better and better every shift and he is ALREADY SUPER GOOD. We have three years on the front end to trade this contract away if need be but I don't see that happening at all. John Marino is first class in every way. This is like landing a early-on Roman Josi contract. YOU KNEW he was going to pan out and the team locked him in longterm and the same with this wonderful contract. Marino plays a mistake free game and he LITERALLY makes everyone on his team better when he's on the ice. I thought this was FAKE NEWS when I first saw it because of the other deals our squad has inked but come to find out this is the real deal and this is TOTALLY gives me hope going forward as a Pens fan and diehard.

You know he was a pending UFA, right? And that he'd already stated publicly that he wasn't signing with Edmonton? A 6th was all they could get and not an unreasonable return. Winnipeg got a 5th for Kevin Hayes in the same situation.

Too much risk IMO. He had a very good (partial) year, but I'd be leery of signing that long a deal to someone who has just a 56-game track record. Good for Marino for getting that deal - it'll set him up for life. Happy for him.

As for the Pens, this guy doesn't have pedigree or a strong history as a prospect of note - where was the pressure to go long term with him? He has another year left on his ELC and then is an RFA who doesn't have arbitration rights. A 1-2 year bridge takes him to a place where the Pens have tons of cap space and the league finances will be on surer footing.

So... not a good signing from the team perspective, GREAT signing from the player perspective.

That wasn't an option for the Oilers - they wanted to sign him but he refused. What's with all the revisionist history on this site?

I love this gamble for Pittsburgh. Marino succeeded last year at a level you couldn't anticipate, basically playing like a high end #2 defensemen, but the way he did it seemed very much rooted in skill and hockey IQ, which tends to be more repeatable. His underlying numbers matched up extremely closely to his actual results, which is typically a good sign that it wasn't a fluke, and at this price, he's being paid more like a decent #3, excellent #4 then he is a top pairing guy, so there is room for him to decline quite considerably, without making this an overpay. I also like that they get this price essentially right through his entire prime, without having to pay for any 30+ seasons, which again, lowers the chances of this going south.

It's a bit of a gamble, but if he plays at the same level next season, they will have 6 more years of a guy making about $2M less than he should, which is the type of thing that can really help keep the window open as long as possible.

Lol yeah well i was trying to make a point of the best two way dman or at least a good one and I didn't know anyone besides Orr or Lidstrom. So not sure who else of the top of my head lol

Had nothing to do with Edmonton. Marino had told teams (like Fox did) before his was draft eligible he was going the US college route, graduate and be a free agent upon graduation. Oilers took a flyer on him by selecting him in the sixth round, hoping (faint hope) that he would change his mind and join the NHL sooner that he said.
Marino would have been UFA August 1st but decided to sign with the Pens (a team of his choice) before he became a free agent.

he didn't want to sign with the Oilers, better then losing him for nothing

Only took 1 year