I have to give credit to Andrew Destin over at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His article on the present day-Ty Smith helped spark this deep dive I went into Smith’s career. His article, which you can find here, provides an interesting look into Smith’s thoughts now, almost two years removed from the trade.

But to understand how Ty Smith went from NHL regular to AHL understudy, we first have to go back to 2019.

Then-Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford swung a trade with the Edmonton Oilers, nabbing young unknown defenseman John Marino in exchange for a conditional sixth round pick.

At the time, it was a pretty insignificant trade on the surface. Marino, a sixth round pick himself by the Oilers four year prior, had just wrapped up his third year of NCAA hockey at Harvard.

He had yet to sign any contract with the Oilers, and the condition that the Penguins placed on the sixth round pick they had traded stated that the pick was only to be transferred if the Penguins had signed Marino to an entry level contract or traded his rights ahead of the 2021 NHL draft.

That pick did end up going Edmonton’s direction when the Penguins signed Marino to a two year deal roughly a year later. Still, he was seen as a long shot to make any kind of serious impact in the immediate future.

But then he did.

Marino made the team out of training camp for the 2019-20 season, and made an instant impression on the team. He averaged over 20 minutes a night while putting up an amazing +17 rating his rookie season.

In addition to that, he could contribute on the scoresheet. Marino slapped in 6 goals and added 20 assists in his 56 games he played that season.

Edmonton police had charged Jim Rutherford with theft.

Marino’s outstanding play even earned him Calder votes as league’s best rookie, though he would finish distantly away from the final three. In almost the blink of an eye, the Penguins had found themselves a suitable top four defenseman for essentially free.

Marino did take a step back in his sophomore season, notching literally half of all of his production stats, as well as a much lower +5. Despite that, he was still a solid piece of the team’s plan moving forward, even as the Penguins suffered an embarrassing first round loss at the hands of the New York Islanders.

Rutherford believed that as well, signing Marino to a hefty six year extension that carried a $4.4 million cap hit.