Penguins send John Marino to Devils for Ty Smith, 3rd-round pick

The Pittsburgh Penguins dealt defenseman John Marino to the New Jersey Devils for blue-liner Ty Smith and a 2023 third-round draft pick Saturday.

Marino collected one goal and 24 assists while logging 20:38 of average ice time in 81 games this past season, his third in the NHL. The 25-year-old is on the books through 2026-27 at a cap hit of $4.4 million.

Smith finished seventh in Calder Trophy voting for the 2021 campaign. He followed it up by producing five goals and 15 assists over 66 contests in 2021-22. The 22-year-old's average ice time fell by nearly three minutes in his second season, from 20:07 to 17:30.

The trade gives the Penguins a bit of wiggle room under the cap, as Smith is still on his entry-level pact at $863,333 through next season before potentially becoming a restricted free agent.

Pittsburgh now has about $3.3 million in space with only RFA Kasperi Kapanen left to sign. Pittsburgh didn't make any splashes when free agency opened Wednesday, but the club did retain Kris Letang and unexpectedly re-signed Evgeni Malkin before the frenzy began.

New Jersey had approximately $25 million in cap space entering Wednesday and still has roughly $13 million after signing Ondrej Palat and trading RFA Pavel Zacha for Erik Haula. However, the team has four RFAs remaining, including breakout star Jesper Bratt and goaltender Vitek Vanecek, who was acquired in a July 8 trade with the Washington Capitals.

The Devils selected Smith 17th overall in 2018. The Edmonton Oilers chose Marino in the sixth round - 154th overall - three years earlier.

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