Utah sign core defenseman John Marino to massive $54 million contract

The Utah Mammoth have been methodically assembling a long-term core, and their latest move signals just how serious the franchise is about building a contender for years to come. On Tuesday, the team made a significant investment in their blue line, one that ties a key defender to the organization for nearly a decade and places him among a very exclusive group of players across the league.

Marino's New Deal and What It Means for Utah

The Mammoth officially announced an eight-year, $54 million contract extension for defenseman John Marino, locking the 29-year-old right-shot blueliner into a deal that carries an average annual value of $6.75 million. The extension will kick in starting with the 2027-28 season, as Marino still has one year remaining on a six-year contract that pays him $4.4 million per season.

The deal will keep Marino in a Utah sweater through 2035, when he will be 38 years old. That timeline puts him in extremely rare company across the NHL. Only three other players in the league are currently signed through that year: Eetu Luostarinen of the Florida Panthers, Ivan Demidov of the Montreal Canadiens, and Tyson Foerster of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Perhaps even more notably, Marino's extension could represent one of the final eight-year deals handed out under the current collective bargaining agreement. New CBA regulations set to take effect on September 15 will cap extensions with a player's current team at seven years, and free agent signings with a new team at six years. That makes the timing of this agreement particularly significant.

General manager Bill Armstrong described Marino as a foundational piece of the franchise's future, praising his ability to control play from the back end and his composure in high-pressure moments. Chris Armstrong, the team's president of hockey operations, echoed those sentiments, calling the defenseman "an invaluable cornerstone" for the organization.

A Career Year Leads to a Career Payday

Marino earned this extension on the strength of a breakout 2025-26 campaign. He posted four goals and a career-best 36 points across 80 regular-season games, while also contributing one goal in six playoff contests. His 32 assists set a personal high, and his plus-43 rating placed him among the top five players in the entire NHL in that category. He averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time per game, ranking third on the Mammoth roster.

Originally selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the sixth round of the 2015 NHL Draft, Marino made his professional debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2019. He was later traded to the New Jersey Devils in 2022, where he spent roughly a season and a half before Utah acquired him in June 2024 in exchange for two second-round draft picks. Over the course of 443 career regular-season games split between Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and Utah, Marino has accumulated 23 goals and 157 points while averaging nearly 21 minutes of ice time per night.

Analysts have highlighted Marino as a well-rounded two-way defenseman with underrated puck-moving skills and strong breakout passing ability, making him a natural fit for a team looking to build through smart, sustainable roster construction.

With Marino now locked in, the Mammoth boast an impressive group of players committed to the franchise for the long haul. He joins Logan Cooley, Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther, Mikhail Sergachev, and Mackenzie Weegar as core pieces signed through at least the 2030-31 season. For a franchise still establishing its identity, that kind of stability on both ends of the ice could prove to be the difference between playoff contention and true championship aspirations in the years ahead.