{"id":460374,"date":"2025-01-10T11:19:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T16:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460374"},"modified":"2025-01-10T11:19:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T16:19:30","slug":"potential-defensive-pairings-utah-hockey-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/10\/potential-defensive-pairings-utah-hockey-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Potential Utah Hockey Club Pairings Once Defenceman Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Utah Hockey Club has had trouble staying healthy on the blue line all season long. Every injured player for Utah is a defenceman, leaving the team with holes on the backend. The injured players are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/marinjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Marino<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/durzise01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sean Durzi<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/lamouma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maveric Lamoureux<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/borturo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Bortuzzo<\/a>. Utah recently claimed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/desimni01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick DeSimone<\/a> off waivers from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/devils\/\" target=\"_self\">New Jersey Devils<\/a> to add depth. While players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/maattol01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Olli M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kessemi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Kesselring<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/coleia01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ian Cole<\/a> have stepped up in larger roles when needed. However, it looks like one of those missing players could be returning to the Utah lineup very soon.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Important D-man Returning?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although Marino was expected to be a large part of Utah\u2019s defence prior to this season, complications arose. The 27-year-old was acquired from the Devils before the season\u2019s start and has been out with a back injury that required surgery. Marino was spotted at Utah\u2019s practice on Monday and was no longer wearing a non-contact jersey, an indication that a return to the lineup is close. He was dealt by the Devils after essentially being deemed the odd-man out and Utah was able to land him. Marino\u2019s estimated return date is currently February 1 and will likely need more practices to get up to game speed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">John Marino is no longer in a non-contact jersey and the Utah Hockey Club has returned for 7 straight at home.<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UtahHC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#UtahHC<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/H3jBtl2TEq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/H3jBtl2TEq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BagleyKSLsports\/status\/1876333694644101315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marino recorded 25 points in 75 games in his second and final year with the Devils last season and hasn\u2019t played a game for Utah yet. The former <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/oilers\/\" target=\"_self\">Edmonton Oilers<\/a> draft pick logged at least 20 minutes in average ice time during every season of his five-year career and would\u2019ve continued that this year. Once he returns, Utah will officially be the third team Marino\u2019s been on in his career besides the Devils and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/penguins\/\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>. It\u2019s unknown where Marino will slot in once he returns as Utah may choose to ease him back into action with shorter minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Potential Defensive Pairings<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There have been many lineup changes to Utah&#8217;s defence this season. According to <a  href=\"https:\/\/moneypuck.com\/lines.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Moneypuck.com<\/a>, the pairings of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sergami01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mikhail Sergachev<\/a>, Maatta, Cole and Kesselring have spent the majority of the season together. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/v\/valimju01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Juuso V\u00e4lim\u00e4ki<\/a>, Bortuzzo, Lamoreaux and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kolyavl01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vladislav Kolyachonok<\/a> have rotated on the third pairing. Lamoreaux could also be close to returning after being seen at Utah\u2019s morning skate prior to their game against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/panthers\/\" target=\"_self\">Florida Panthers<\/a>. However, a Marino return likely pushes him out of the lineup. These are potential defensive pairings Utah could deploy when Marino returns:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sergachev-Marino<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maatta-Kesselring<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cole-Valimaki<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first pair of Sergachev and Marino would be the best partnership on the team. Sergachev is by far Utah\u2019s best defenceman because of his ability to play offence and defence. The 26-year-old has 29 points in 40 games this season, which is the most among Utah defencemen and has the second-most blocked shots among all Utah skaters with 75. Both Sergachev and Marino have a career Corsi-For of 51% or higher, showing that they controlled the puck more often when they were on the ice. While the pairing of Cole and Valimaki would be a more defensive pair for Utah. Cole leads all Utah players with 114 blocks this season, while Valimaki would fill in beside the 35-year-old veteran. It won\u2019t be confirmed until Marino returns, but this is an idea of how Utah\u2019s defence could shape up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Utah\u2019s defensive core struggled in the first few months of the season, but it has improved lately. Most notably, the team\u2019s goals against per game has dropped to 2.97, which now ranks 13th in the NHL. The team\u2019s penalty kill is up to 80.7%, which is also 13th in the league. Utah will have a deeper defensive core once the team is fully healthy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Utah Hockey Club has had trouble staying healthy on the blue line all season long. Every injured player for Utah is a defenceman, leaving the team with holes on the backend. The injured players are John Marino, Sean Durzi, Maveric Lamoureux and Robert Bortuzzo. Utah recently claimed Nick DeSimone off waivers from the New [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5373,"featured_media":460527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,4547,4548],"tags":[260,4522,7413,7298,8048,200,1330,608,980,3348,4067],"class_list":["post-460374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mammoth","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-ian-cole","tag-john-marino","tag-jusso-valimaki","tag-maveric-lamoureux","tag-michael-kesselring","tag-mikhail-sergachev","tag-nick-desimone","tag-olli-maatta","tag-robert-bortuzzo","tag-sean-durzi","tag-vladislav-kolyachonok"],"modified_by":"Alec Roberson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460374"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460528,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460374\/revisions\/460528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}