Jim Rutherford has pulled off some epic blue-line heists during his time in Pittsburgh. Acquiring Trevor Daley for Rob Scuderi. Liberating Justin Schultz from Edmonton. Picking up Marcus Pettersson for top prospect-turned-AHL also-ran Daniel Sprong. But he may have done his finest work this past summer, when he sent a sixth-round pick to the Oilers for John Marino.
At the time, it seemed like a low-profile deal to provide more defensive prospect depth. Instead, Marino has been brilliant on both sides of the puck while making a legitimate case for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
At just 22 years old, Marino has earned big minutes. He's averaging 20:28 of ice time, which ranks behind only Kris Letang among Penguins defensemen. He's also fourth in ice time among rookie defensemen this year, behind Quinn Hughes, Ethan Bear and Cale Makar. And it's easy to see why Marino has earned the trust of coach Mike Sullivan, considering that the Harvard product has been a shutdown defender from day one and has picked up his offensive game over the past few months.
With Marino skating, the Penguins are surrendering just 26.8 shots per 60 minutes of five-on-five play, according to Natural Stat Trick. That's the sixth-lowest rate among all NHL defensemen who have skated at least 500 minutes at even strength. Marino also earns high marks in scoring chances allowed (22.6, 16th among defensemen) and high-danger scoring chances (8.1, ranking fifth). The Harvard product has shown a penchant for creating turnovers, ranking 11th among defensemen in takeaways (2.0 per 60 minutes), and he's sacrificing the body with 3.7 shot blocks per 60 minutes (second among Penguins defenders, behind Letang).
Marino's rookie year would be impressive enough if he were merely a stellar defender. But he's flashing some offensive upside, too. With 0.49 points per game, Marino ranks within the top 50 among all NHL defensemen who have played at least 30 games this season. He has picked it up since November (0.61 points per game from November-January, compared to 0.1 per game in October). In Penguins history, the only rookie defensemen to average more points per game are Zarley Zalapski (0.78 in 1988-89), Ryan Whitney (0.56 in 2005-06) and Norm Schmidt (0.53 in 1983-84).
Two Penguins have earned the Calder Trophy as the league's best rookie: Mario Lemieux in 1984-85 and Evgeni Malkin in 2006-07. Considering Marino's two-way skill, and the lack of a rookie forward who's tearing it up offensively, he has a chance to become Pittsburgh's third Calder winner.
Marino ranks tied for second among all NHL rookies in Point Shares, a Hockey-Reference stat that measures a player's offensive and defensive contributions in terms of his team's overall point total in the standings.
Marino is on pace for more than eight point shares over the course of a full season--a level reached by only Larry Murphy, Kris Letang, Sergei Gonchar, Matt Niskanen, Paul Coffey, Ryan Whitney, Justin Schultz, Kevin Hatcher, Ron Stackhouse, Sergei Zubov, Randy Carlyle and Moe Mantha in franchise history. He's also on pace to top the all-time mark among rookie defensemen, set by Olli Maatta (6.6 in 2013-14).
Not even 50 games into his NHL career, Marino has already emerged as a reliable, two-way defender. That's way more than anyone could have expected for a sixth-rounder. But the truly exciting question is: How much better can he get? As we near the All-Star game, it's easy for fans to dream of Marino representing the club in the years to come.
MORE PENGUINS
• Hockey's Steel Curtain: There's a reason why Sullivan has gone out of his way to praise the bottom six line of Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev. It's quite possibly the best defensive line in the game. Among NHL forwards who have skated at least 500 minutes during five-on-five play, Aston-Reese has the lowest rate of scoring chances allowed (17.7 per 60 minutes) while Tanev ranks third (19.8) and Blueger fourth (20.3). With these three guys skating together at five-on-five, the Penguins are allowing just 1.4 goals per 60 minutes. Even by this team's incredibly high standards, that's ridiculous (Pittsburgh is allowing 2.28 goals per 60 minutes at even strength overall, eighth in the league). With Tanev's speed, Aston-Reeses's strength and Blueger's savvy, these guys are shutting down the competition.
• Kahun clicking: It sure looks like Rutherford got the better end of the trade that shipped defenseman Olli Maatta to the Blackhawks for Dominik Kahun. Not only did Rutherford clear more than $3 million annually in cap space, but he picked up a young and inexpensive winger who has been a solid offensive contributor and a badger defensively. Kahun has increased his points per game total from 0.45 as a rookie in 2018-19 to 0.56 this year, while boosting the Penguins share of the game's shots by +2.2 percent during five-on-five play compared to when he's on the bench. Maatta, meanwhile, has dragged down his team's shot share by -0.3 percent at five-on-five.
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