Marino to make Utah debut vs. Canadiens

John Marino will make his Utah Hockey Club debut Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens, general manager Bill Armstrong announced.

Utah acquired Marino in an offseason trade with the New Jersey Devils in an effort to improve its blue line, moments after the club landed fellow defenseman Mikhail Sergachev from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

However, Marino was injured before the start of the regular season and eventually forced to undergo back surgery in late October.

Marino projects to slot in on Utah's third defense pair with Juuso Valimaki on Tuesday, though he could eventually play his way up the depth chart given his pedigree as a minute-munching, shutdown blue-liner. He's averaged at least 20 minutes per game in each of his five NHL seasons.