Marino and Pettersson Having Fun and Success

It wasn't that long ago that the Penguins were being criticized - mocked, really - for having no young defensemen in their system.

Funny, then, that when they open the Stanley Cup qualifying round against the Montreal Canadiens on August 1, one of their top defense pairings is likely to be Marcus Pettersson, 24, skating alongside John Marino, 23 - a talented and promising chunk of the organization's long-term future on the blue line.

Pettersson and Marino were acquired in separate trades over the past year and stand as two of GM Jim Rutherford's best and most underappreciated banner deals.

"We think they're both good players," Coach Mike Sullivan was saying at training camp earlier this week, before the Penguins took a day off on Wednesday. "They both bring good size and long reach. They're hard to play against. They take up a lot of space. They have great gaps. They defend the blue line on entries extremely well."

Petterrson, the grizzled veteran of the duo, was a second-round pick by Anaheim in 2014. The 6-foot-3, 177-pound native of Skelleftea, Sweden began his NHL career with the Ducks but was acquired by the Penguins in a December 2019 trade for Daniel Sprong. He has played 126 games here in parts of two seasons, recording two goals and 20 assists for 22 points and a plus-9 rating in 69 games this year.

Marino, still in his rookie season, came to Pittsburgh from Edmonton in the summer of 2019 for the bargain-basement price of a sixth-round pick. Marino himself was the Oilers' sixth-rounder in 2015 and showed enough promise during three college seasons at Harvard to intrigue Penguins scouts Kevin Stevens and Scott Young. So Rutherford pounced. The 6-2, 181-pound native of North Easton, MA was so impressive in his first training camp last September that he made the jump to the NHL without spending any time in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

In 56 games with the Penguins, he contributed six goals and 20 assists for 26 points and a plus-17 rating, drawing raves for his on-ice presence and maturity, and even earning some power play time.

Their youth stands out among a defense corps that also includes Kris Letang (33), Jack Johnson (33), Justin Schultz (30) and Brian Dumoulin (two months shy of 29). Sullivan put them together at one point during the regular season and - despite the traditional urge to pair a youngster with a veteran - liked what he saw. "That's one of the reasons why they're back together right now," he said.

Pettersson was more of a known commodity when he was acquired from Anaheim, having already played 49 NHL games with the Ducks, but his game has grown exponentially during his time in Pittsburgh. Marino, meanwhile, to many untrained eyes, came out of nowhere. It is extremely rare for a young defenseman to jump directly from college to the NHL without any minor-league seasoning.

"And he's a different player now than he was in September, that's for sure," Sullivan said. "He's a guy that made a huge impression on us from day one of training camp this year. He earned his way onto this roster, and earned his ice time into the top four. That speaks volumes about the evolution of his game. He's developed into a real solid two-way defenseman."

Although Marino worked with several different partners during his rookie season, the connection with Pettersson was apparent from the start, and it's clear that the two youngsters have benefitted from playing together. It's a case of youth being served.

"Playing with Johnny, he's been so lights-out the whole year," Pettersson said. "I think we kind of read the game the same way. We talk a lot with each other and we can kind of read off each other and I think that helps a lot."

Marino agrees.

"We have pretty similar styles," he said. "He's easy to read off of. I kind of have a feeling of where he's going to be. It's been fun playing with him, and I hope it continues."

So do the Penguins.