- The Department of Player Safety issued a fine of $2.5K to Islanders center Mathew Barzal for unsportsmanlike conduct. The incident occurred late in the third period on Sunday when he grabbed onto Mitch Marner’s jersey from the bench. No penalty was issued on the play.
Islanders Rumors
AHL Shuffle: 04/10/22
After a dozen games on Saturday, seven more are on the docket today. After colliding yesterday, the Capitals and Penguins are back in action Sunday and again face stiff competition. Washington will face the Bruins this afternoon, while the Penguins square off with the Predators later in the day. The Stars are also facing a back-to-back this weekend and looking for a better result today versus Chicago after falling to New Jersey on Saturday. Every point matters at this point in the season and teams are working diligently to make sure they are prepared for each and every game. Keep up with all of those roster preparations here:
Atlantic Division
- After Jake Allen, who has been oft-injured this season, left with an injury yet again last night, the Montreal Canadiens have made a move to replace him. The team announced that Cayden Primeau has been recalled from the AHL’s Laval Rocket. The 22-year-old has played well in the minors this season, but struggled at the top level. In a dozen NHL games, Primeau has an .868 save percentage and 4.62 goals against average to the tune of a 1-7-1 record.
- The Ottawa Senators have re-assigned rookie Mark Kastelic to AHL Belleville, opening up a roster spot for the return of Tim Stutzle. Kastelic is a big, two-way center and the former captain of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen who is asserting himself as a solid bottom-six option for Ottawa, recording 25 points in 56 AHL games this season, in turn earning him 11 NHL games.
Metropolitan Division
- Hayden Hodgson is heading back to the AHL after a brief recall to the Philadelphia Flyers. The team has announced that the recently-signed forward has been returned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. After pro four seasons, spent mostly in the ECHL, Hodgson is enjoying a breakout campaign with 19 goals and 31 points in 46 games in the AHL, leading to an NHL contract and three points in six games with the Flyers over the past few weeks.
- With center Casey Cizikas’ one-game suspension served, the New York Islanders are returning forward Andy Andreoff to the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders. Andreoff, 30, is a veteran of 185 NHL games and has 39 points in 55 AHL games this season.
Central Division
- The Nashville Predators have announced that with goaltender Juuse Saros out day-to-day with a non-COVID illness, goaltender Connor Ingram has been recalled from Milwaukee of the AHL. Ingram, 25, has appeared in 2 games so far this season and has a 1-1 record and a .906 save percentage. Ingram has a .914 in 50 games in the AHL this season.
Pacific Division
Islanders Recall Andy Andreoff
- The New York Islanders announced (Twitter Link) that they’ve recalled forward Andy Andreoff from the Bridgeport Islanders of the AHL. Andreoff has spent the majority of the season with Bridgeport, but did get into five games with the Islanders this season amid their COVID outbreak in late November and early December. The call-up comes with forward Casey Cizikas being suspended for one game after a hit on Carolina Hurricanes’ defenseman Brendan Smith last night. Andreoff will draw into the lineup tonight against the St. Louis Blues.
Casey Cizikas Receives One-Game Suspension
With the Islanders in action tonight against St. Louis, the disciplinary hearing for center Casey Cizikas needed to be held quickly. That indeed happened as the Department of Player Safety has made their ruling, announcing (video link) that the veteran has received a one-game suspension for his hit last night on Carolina defenseman Brendan Smith.
The incident occurred just seven seconds into the third period with Cizikas receiving a minor penalty on the play. Smith, meanwhile, left the game and did not return with no word on how long he might be out for. It’s the first time that Cizikas has received any sort of supplementary discipline from the league.
Cizikas will forfeit $12.5K in salary as a result of the suspension and the money will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund. He will be eligible to return to New York’s lineup on Tuesday when they host Pittsburgh.
Casey Cizikas To Have Hearing For Boarding
The NHL Department of Player Safety announced today that New York Islanders forward Casey Cizikas will have a hearing for boarding Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brendan Smith.
Cizikas laid the hit on Smith in the first minute of the third period of last night’s game. Cizikas was assessed a two-minute minor for boarding on the play, while Smith left the game after the hit and did not return. Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour did not have an update on his status postgame.
While Cizikas does have a physical edge to his game, he does not have a history of being fined or suspended by NHL Player Safety, something that ought to work in his favor during this hearing. Cizikas has nine goals and 14 points in 63 games this season in the midst of a rough season offensively and defensively.
Ilya Sorokin Day-To-Day With Upper-Body Injury
- New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said after today’s game against Tampa Bay that goalie Ilya Sorokin suffered an upper-body injury that took him out of the game after the second period. It’s unclear whether Sorokin will travel with the team to Columbus for their next game. If he’s out of the lineup, it’s a huge blow to any sliver of hope the Islanders had at making a miracle run into the playoffs. Quietly, Sorokin has been one of the NHL’s best this season, buoying the Islanders with his six shutouts and .927 save percentage in 42 starts. Coming into the game against Tampa Bay, he hadn’t had a save percentage under .929 in his last five games.
Grant Hutton Re-Called On Emergency Basis
It’s a fairly busy day of hockey in the NHL, with eight games on the schedule. This afternoon, the New York Islanders host the Tampa Bay Lightning in a rematch of the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals, and later this evening, an Eastern Conference heavyweight matchup as the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Florida Panthers. While the NHL action is happening, there should still be plenty of small transactions around the hockey world to keep updated.
- The New York Islanders re-called defenseman Grant Hutton from the Bridgeport Islanders of the AHL on an emergency basis. Hutton saw his first NHL action back in November amid the Islanders’ COVID outbreak, going without a point in five games. The 26-year-old defenseman will draw into the lineup for the Islanders’ afternoon game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Latest On New York Islanders Offseason Plans
After a tough season to date, rife with adversity, the New York Islanders find themselves well out of playoff position in the Eastern Conference after back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference Finals. Considering their place in the standings, and the depth of veterans they carry, the team seemed poised to move a player or two ahead of the March 21st trading deadline. Instead, the team extended two veteran, pending UFAs in Zach Parise and Cal Clutterbuck. In his media availability after the trade deadline, Islanders’ GM Lou Lamoriello spoke candidly, saying that he had been working the phones leading up to the deadline, but mentioned that in order to get better, they would need to make a ’hockey trade’ that improved the team now and in the future.
Lamoriello’s comments lead many to wonder what the team’s offseason could look like with this in mind, and what sort of trades he could make to improve a veteran group that has certainly underperformed this season, and is sitting fairly close to the salary cap ceiling. Among those wondering were Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek of Sportsnet on their 32 Thoughts podcast. While Marek notes that the organization has many assets under control, Friedman adds that many of them the Islanders would almost certainly not move, including forwards Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal, and defensemen Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech. All four have been consistent, important contributors for the Islanders over the past few seasons, and all are signed to contracts with term. The only one that Friedman believes could be moved, in theory, is Barzal, but only if the team doesn’t feel they can re-sign him when his contract expires after next season. Even still, Barzal will be a RFA after the 2022-23 season, leaving the Islanders with control.
Instead, Marek wonders if a ’hockey trade’ could include either Jean-Gabriel Pageau or Anthony Beauvillier. Pageau was once perhaps Lamoriello’s biggest acquisition with the Islanders, when he was acquired at the 2020 trade deadline and subsequently extended. Pageau has impressed in the playoffs for the Islanders, but has taken his own step back this season. A ’hockey trade’ could be made difficult for the Islanders here, as Pageau, who turns 30 in November, carries a $5MM cap hit through the 2025-26 season.
Beauvillier, on the other hand, may be a perfect piece to help the organization get better. The forward has been a regular for the Islanders since his debut in 2016-17, but like Pageau has taken a step back this season. However, Beauvillier carries a $4.15MM cap hit through the 2023-24 season and is considerably younger than Pageau at just 24 years of age.
Marek and Friedman return to the idea of trading Nelson in a ’hockey trade,’ because, as they say, there likely isn’t a team in the NHL that wouldn’t want him. Nelson is in the third year of a six-year, $36MM contract he signed prior to the 2019-20 season and is having a career-year with 30 goals and 15 assists in 54 games so far this season. As talented as Nelson is, his contract is providing tremendous value and could therefore provide a favorable return for Lamoriello and the Islanders. That said, one of the Islanders’ primary struggles this year, and the previous few years, has been goal scoring, and trading talented forwards like Beauvillier or Nelson away won’t help.
For now, the team will focus on finishing this season strong in order to build confidence and momentum heading into next season, where they hope to rebound and be Stanley Cup contenders once again. What that group will look like at the start of 2022-23 does, however, remain a mystery.
Cal Clutterbuck Out Rest Of Season
The New York Islanders rewarded Cal Clutterbuck with a recent contract extension, something that certainly came at the right time for the veteran forward. The team announced today that Clutterbuck will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury that will require surgery. Additionally, Scott Mayfield will miss four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.
Clutterbuck, 34, last played on March 19, two days before the trade deadline when he inked a new two-year, $3.5MM extension that keeps him with the Islanders through the 2023-24 season. While his name had surfaced in trade speculation, it seems likely that it was never really in the cards given this injury and the timing of his extension.
Through 59 games this season, Clutterbuck has racked up six goals and 15 points, actually eclipsing the totals from each of the last two years. The last time he posted double-digit goals was 2015-16, and he hasn’t broken 25 points in a single season since he was still with the Minnesota Wild. Despite that lack of offensive output, Clutterbuck has been an important part of the smothering defensive system in New York, racking up almost countless hits in a bottom-six role. This season he sits fourth in the entire league with 229 collisions, trailing only Radko Gudas, Ryan Reaves, and Tanner Jeannot.
Set to turn 35 in November and now coming off shoulder surgery, it’s easy to wonder what kind of impact Clutterbuck can really have moving forward. His $1.75MM cap hit is half of what he’s earned for the last five years, but still seems like a relative overpay, given how uncertain his future contributions are.
Mayfield, who also was included in some pre-deadline speculation, was injured when he blocked a shot on Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators and will now miss a good chunk of what’s left in the regular season. The depth defenseman is already signed through next season and has taken another step forward this season, adding 18 points in 61 games to his already stalwart defensive play. While he’s not a top-pairing option, some believed Mayfield could have been a sought-after addition for contenders at the deadline had he been made available by the Islanders.
With the team sitting 17 points behind the Washington Capitals for the second wild card spot, with the Columbus Blue Jackets in between, it was always going to be an extreme longshot for the Islanders to make a playoff push. Losing two more pieces from their lineup will only make that climb more difficult and could potentially end up giving them some better lottery odds instead.
New York Islanders Extend Zach Parise, Cal Clutterbuck
Despite being well out of the playoff picture, a pair of New York Islanders veterans are staying put. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports that forwards Zach Parise and Cal Clutterbuck have signed extensions in New York. Per the Islanders, Clutterbuck’s extension is for two years, while Parise’s is just for one. The deals will go into effect for the 2022-23 season.
Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Clutterbuck’s deal carries a cap hit of $1.75MM.
Parise, who signed a one-year league-minimum deal to join the team after getting bought out by the Minnesota Wild, has provided great value for that $750,000 cap hit. Despite seeing limited ice time, he has eight goals and 24 points in 60 games, a decent offensive clip and good consistency. The 37-year-old has improved his defensive game from his last years in Minnesota as well.
Clutterbuck is extremely likely to take a pay cut from his previous deal, which paid him $3.5MM a year. He remains a very good defensive winger but is really beginning to struggle offensively and on special teams. He has 15 points in 59 games this season, averaging 14:02 per game.
If you think this news is puzzling, you’re not alone. Rumors swirled for weeks about both of these players getting dealt prior to the Trade Deadline, especially Clutterbuck. But general manager Lou Lamoriello has a history of retaining his veterans whenever possible in an effort to keep consistent voices in the locker room, and it appears that pattern hasn’t changed. It could be that the organization views this year as an outlier, a somewhat reasonable assumption considering their 13-game road trip to start the year and their rash of injuries.
But it’s a gamble nonetheless by the Islanders, as they continue to limit internal opportunities for young players within their organization.