The NHL's contract landscape is about to change in a significant way, and John Marino's extension with the Utah Mammoth could be the beginning of one final league-wide sprint.

Beginning Sept. 16, when the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement takes effect, the maximum length for player contracts will drop from eight years to seven. That means teams have only a short window remaining to hand out the longest deals currently allowed under league rules.

Utah wasted little time taking advantage.

The Mammoth signed defenseman John Marino to an eight-year extension worth $54 million on Tuesday, carrying an average annual value of $6.75 million. Once the new CBA goes into effect, contracts of that length will disappear unless the league and NHLPA negotiate another change in a future agreement.

For contenders and rebuilding clubs alike, the next several weeks could become a race to secure cornerstone players before that opportunity vanishes.

Utah general manager Bill Armstrong made it clear that the timing wasn't accidental.

"We view John as a foundational piece of our future. His ability to control the game from the back end, his play in transition and our trust in him to make the right decisions in critical situations allows him to be a difference maker on most nights," Armstrong stated via The Salt Lake Tribune. 

Armstrong later acknowledged that the upcoming CBA changes played a role in getting Marino's extension completed now rather than waiting until later in the year.

The deal continues Utah's aggressive effort to build long-term stability around its young core. Marino becomes the fourth Mammoth player to receive an eight-year contract, joining Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley and Nick Schmaltz. On the blue line, he now joins Mikhail Sergachev and MacKenzie Weegar as defensemen locked up well into the next decade.

For Marino, committing long term was an easy decision.

"They've created a winning environment and a place where players want to be. The support from the fans and everything has exceeded expectations. It's been unbelievable."

The 29-year-old defenseman rewarded Utah's confidence with arguably the best season of his career. After missing significant time during the franchise's inaugural campaign because of a lower-back injury, Marino returned to appear in 80 games last season while posting a plus-42 rating, tied for fourth among all NHL players.

His partnership with Nate Schmidt quietly became one of the league's most effective defensive pairings, giving Utah another dependable shutdown duo alongside Sergachev and Weegar. With Sean Durzi now gone and veteran Ian Cole departing in free agency, Marino's importance to the organization's future has only increased.

But the bigger takeaway may extend well beyond Utah.

Every front office across the NHL now faces the same deadline. Teams hoping to maximize cost certainty and lock up franchise cornerstones for the longest possible term have only until Sept. 16 to do it.

That reality could produce a flurry of blockbuster extensions over the coming weeks as general managers attempt to beat the clock before seven-year contracts become the league's new standard.

Marino may simply be the first domino to fall.