Devils & Penguins Pull Off Big Trade Swapping Defensemen

The New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins have pulled off a significant deal involving two young defensemen being swapped. The Devils get John Marino while the Penguins get back Ty Smith and a 2023 third round pick in return.

🚨 TRADE ALERT 🚨

Big John is comin' to Jerz. 😤
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) July 16, 2022

As far as trades go, this is a fair one. The Devils were still looking to add another defenseman to their top-four and Smith regressed and wasn't that for them last season. The team is also trying to get back into the playoffs as their rebuild is over. Marino had one goal and 25 points last season while Smith had five goals and 20 points in his second season.

The Devils technically have three top-four defensemen who play the right side, but they should be able to figure that out whether it's shifting someone over to the other side or playing all three lines a little more equally and to the strengths of the players.

As for the Penguins, they were tight on cap space and were trying to trade either Marcus Pettersson or Michael to make room for the extensions of Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. Marino was the least of the three defensemen the Penguins wanted to move as he has the highest ceiling and has played the best already. In return for Marino, Smith is still very young and saves them money while also replacing the third round pick they used to acquire Jeff Carter in 2021.

Good deal for both sides that should work out in each of their favors.