Utah HC gets brutal John Marino injury update before Bruins clash
The Utah Hockey Club traded for John Marino in the hopes of bolstering their blueline. However, they have yet to see their new defenseman in action. Marino has not played this season due to an upper-body injury he suffered in training camp. And it appears he won't make his Utah Hockey Club debut for quite a while longer .
Marino will be out for "months," head coach Andre Tourigny told Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune. This is certainly a massive blow to the team's depth on the blueline. Marino figured to play a major role on Utah's backend after a trade from the New Jersey Devils this summer.
Marino had spent two seasons with the Devils prior to the trade to Utah. He is coming off a season in which he scored four goals and 25 points in 75 games. Before his time in New Jersey, Marino had spent three seasons as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
John Marino adds to injury woes for Utah Hockey Club
Unfortunately, the Utah Hockey Club is struggling with injuries beyond John Marino. In fact, the team's blueline has taken a rather significant hit. Defenseman Sean Durzi is also out with an injury , and he could miss an extended amount of time. Both Durzi and Marino were set to play prominent roles on the back end.
As a result, Utah has had to shuffle the deck. Moreover, they have had to add to the workload of their healthy defensemen. Mikhail Sergachev played over 27 minutes in the team's most recent game against the Anaheim Ducks, for instance. The injury situation has put pressure on everyone to perform as best they can.
"The big thing is the load management. The big thing is the number of minutes. Everybody takes more than they normally were planned to take. What's important is the guys in the lineup must play to their full potential," Tourigny said of the situation on Friday, via Fraser.
They received a further scare when veteran Robert Bortuzzo left their last game with an injury. However, Bortuzzo is not expected to miss any time. "He's a kind of old school, throwback. I suspect he will not be really honest with me. I was pretty sure he would tell me he's alright," Tourigny said, via Fraser.
The Utah Hockey Club is certainly working through some early injury issues. It will be interesting to see if the team swings a trade or a free agent signing to give them further depth. Utah hits the ice once again on Saturday when they face the Boston Bruins in front of their home fans.
