Penguins Update: Jumping on the Marino-Pettersson Bandwagon

We’re all familiar with the saying, “A day late and a dollar short.” Well, I guess you could say that applies to this post. I got the idea to write an article about the pleasantly strong play of John Marino and Marcus Pettersson a couple of days ago (honest, you can ask Other Rick) but just about everyone and their mother beat me to the punch.

Well, I’ve decided to throw in my two cents anyway. Better late than never, right?

First, a little backstory. Both blueliners shone early in their respective black-and-gold careers. Pettersson arrived first on December 3, 2018, from Anaheim in a straight-up trade for Daniel Sprong. Immediately upon his arrival, the lanky Swede had a stabilizing effect on the Pens’ defense and, in particular, frequent partner Jack Johnson.

Thanks to his long reach and educated stick, Pettersson’s gap control was good and he flashed an offensive upside as well, demonstrating an ability to make a good first pass. He didn’t shy away from the grittier side of the game, either, blocking 76 shots and delivering 85 hits in 57 games with the Pens.

Marcus played so well, he finished 10th in the voting for the Calder Trophy. Not too shabby for a player who seemed to come out of nowhere.

Marino’s narrative is eerily similar. At the urging of scout Kevin Stevens, then-Pens GM Jim Rutherford acquired the obscure Massachusetts native on July 26, 2019, from Edmonton for a sixth-round pick. Playing like a seasoned veteran from the get-go, he quickly earned Mike Sullivan’s trust with his mobility, preternatural positioning and sage decision-making, not to mention underrated offensive skills. Partnered primarily with Pettersson on a very effective second pairing, he finished eighth in Calder Trophy voting.

Eager to wrap up his young defensive duo, Rutherford moved quickly. Some would say too quickly. He signed Pettersson to a five-year extension on January 28, 2020, at a cap hit of $4.083 million. Nearly a year to the day later, JR inked Marino to a six-year extension with an AAV of $4.4 million.

Trouble started almost right out of the chute in 2020-21 for the prized pair. Pettersson went down with an upper-body injury in the fourth game of season. Pressed into service on the left side due to a Biblical plague of injuries, Marino struggled to adapt. He failed to register a point in his first seven games and was a minus-six to boot. Returned to his natural side, albeit it next to Mike Matheson, his game leveled out somewhat. However, skating next to the unpredictable Matheson robbed him of his offensive mojo. Marino mustered only three assists in his first 23 games, a far cry from his rookie campaign when he tallied six goals and a highly respectable 26 points in 56 games.

After missing nearly a month of the season, Pettersson didn’t exactly shine upon his return, either. Elevated to the top pairing beside Kris Letang, he was pulled from that lofty spot after a few games. After averaging nearly 20 minutes a game in ’19-20, the rangy defenseman’s ice time dipped dramatically.

With Matheson and Cody Ceci emerging as a solid second pairing, Marcus was reunited with Marino. While the move seemed to help them both, neither returned to the level they’d displayed the previous season. Indeed, the pair was a combined minus-five in the Game 1 overtime loss to the Islanders last spring. They received sheltered minutes for the remainder of the series.

Pettersson expressed disappointment in his play.

“I didn’t really take that step that I wanted to this year from last year to this year,” he said. “So I think that’s something for sure that I have to do a better job of.”

Ironically, according to TopDownHockey, both blueliners graded out reasonably well in what was termed a down year. Pettersson had a very good WAR of 72% (50% being breakeven); Marino was only slightly behind at 67%. Their even strength defense WARs were excellent (Pettersson 84%, Marino 71%).

Still, heading into the offseason Pettersson was bandied about in the media as potential trade bait. Critics cited his hefty contact, not to mention the fact that the younger, cheaper and perhaps more promising Pierre-Olivier Joseph was waiting in the wings. Although the 25-year-old drew some interest from other clubs, nothing came of it.

While not on the trading block, Marino had lost some luster as well.

The plan heading into camp was to give a Matheson-Marino combo another go, while Pettersson once again received mop-up minutes skating alongside either Chad Ruhwedel or Mark Friedman. The fact that the Pens were out-chanced during preseason by a wide margin at 5v5 (17-23) with No. 28 on the ice didn’t help his cause.

Then Matheson sustained a lower-body injury at the end of camp, more or less forcing the coaching staff to reunite Pettersson and Marino.

“With Mike Matheson missing early on with an injury, we went back to a comfortable pairing in John and Marcus together,” said assistant coach Todd Reirden. “They’ve earned the opportunities they’re getting. Both of them understand that there was better in their game than they showed last year and they’ve responded thus far.”

Indeed. Through our first four games, the pair’s been dominant, out-chancing the opposition by a whopping 26-13 margin at 5v5 according to Natural Stat Trick. Their skill sets seem to complement each other extremely well. With the stay-at-home Pettersson covering his back, Marino’s rediscovered his offensive touch, tallying a pretty goal and three assists to go with a team-best plus-six. Pettersson is a notch behind at plus-five

“We’ve played together for a little while now,” Marino said. “We know each other’s tendencies. We just kind of feed off of each other.”

If it Weren’t for Bad Luck…

The refrain from the song Gloom Despair and Agony on Me from the old TV show Hee Haw could well describe the plight of our present-day Pens. “If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all…”

Yesterday the team announced that Jeff Carter and Tristan Jarry have entered covid-19 protocol. Both attended the Steelers game at Heinz Field on Sunday night. Both are asymptomatic, although Carter tested positive. Both are questionable for Saturday night’s tilt with Toronto.

Which means Evan Rodrigues has been elevated, temporarily, to No. 1 center.

Sheesh. Can we ever get a break health-wise? Makes me believe more than ever that PPG Paints Arena is built on some ancient Native American burial ground…