Elliotte Friedman reported Monday that defenseman John Marino is closing in on an eight-year contract extension with the Utah Hockey Club carrying a $6.75 million average annual value — a deal that would keep the 28-year-old off the unrestricted free agent market next summer and commit Utah to $54 million in total.
Friedman, the Sportsnet insider whose contract scoops have made him one of the NHL’s most reliable tip lines, posted the news on social media without additional detail. No official confirmation has come from the club or Marino’s camp.
The structure — eight years at the maximum term permitted under the collective bargaining agreement — tells you what Utah’s front office thinks it has. A $6.75 million cap hit lands Marino in the neighborhood of a legitimate top-four defenseman, and the eight-year commitment buys out the entirety of his prime plus several years on the back end. That is the kind of term a team extends only when it believes the player’s defensive value will hold, not when it is paying for a single peak season.
Marino arrived in Utah after stints with Pittsburgh and New Jersey, where he built a reputation as a steady, puck-moving defenseman who could handle tough minutes without needing the offensive zone starts that shelter more celebrated blueliners. His game has always translated better to expected-goals models than to highlight reels — the kind of player whose value shows up in shot-attempt differentials and zone-exit efficiency rather than on the scoresheet.
For a Utah franchise still in its infancy — the club began play in 2024-25 after the Arizona Coyotes’ hockey operations relocated to Salt Lake City — locking in a core defenseman at a fixed cap hit represents a foundational move. The franchise has aggressively built through trades and the draft, and securing Marino long-term removes one variable from next summer’s roster calculus before it can become a distraction.
The $6.75 million figure also carries strategic weight against the salary cap’s projected trajectory. With the cap rising as league revenues climb, a deal struck now at that AAV could look increasingly team-friendly in years four through eight — the classic argument for max-term extensions given to players entering their late twenties. The risk, of course, is the back end: defensemen who rely on positioning and gap control rather than elite skating can age unevenly, and Utah would be carrying Marino’s hit into his mid-thirties.
Friedman’s report does not indicate when the deal might be finalized, and as with any extension nearing completion, the gap between “closing in” and “signed” can span days or collapse in hours. Until the paperwork clears, Marino remains technically a pending unrestricted free agent — though the market can effectively consider him spoken for.
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