Cal clutters ‘best 4th line in hockey’
Same old linemates, different nickname.
That’s the storyline which will follow Cal Clutterbuck around this season as he has been reunited on the famed “best fourth line in hockey” with Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas — and now he carries the new moniker of “Shuttlebuck,” given to him Sunday by Flyers’ forward Robert Hagg.
“It doesn’t matter if you play against Martin or Shuttlebuck, or whatever it is — I hate that guy,” Hagg told reporters after the preseason opener at the Coliseum. “There’s that kind of player on every team.”
Clutterbuck was not taking the bait when he got back out there against the Flyers (but no Hagg) on Tuesday night at Barclays Center, earning a couple stitches across his face during a desultory 5-1 loss in front of an echoing arena.
“I don’t even want to respond,” Clutterbuck said. “Just leave it.”
What’s not being left is that Clutterbuck and his mates are now being looked at to help create a new identity for these transitioning Islanders. No longer is John Tavares the captain — and of course, playing in his first preseason game with the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, Tavares scored twice. The Islanders do have reigning Calder Trophy winner Mat Barzal as the center of the talent, but he is still a 21-year-old kid with a lot to learn — evident by a couple of ghastly neutralzone turnovers on Tuesday.
So new team president Lou Lamoriello tried to solidify things by bringing back Martin from Toronto this summer, a deal that sent low minor league goalie Eamon McAdam to the Leafs while also strapping the Isles with the two years remaining on the 29-year-old Martin’s contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $2.5 million. It had not worked out for Martin in Toronto, as he played in just 50 games last season and coach Mike Babcock made him a healthy scratch in all seven of the playoff games last spring.
But first-year Islanders coach Barry Trotz immediately put Martin with Cizikas and Clutterbuck in training camp, trying to reignite the trio that earned its reputation while running roughshod from 2013-14 through 2015-16.
“They were a lot of the identity of what the Islanders were, especially in the Coliseum,” Trotz said. “So, Matt is a real good pro, and I think he’s going to be good for the group. And obviously they have chemistry. So I felt they were a real strong fourth line, one of the strongest in the league. We believe they can play together.”
That same summer Martin signed his four-year, $10 million deal with Toronto — then run by Lamoriello — then Islanders general manager Garth Snow gave Cizikas a five-year, $16.75 million deal. The next summer, Snow gave Clutterbuck a five-year, $17.5 million deal. The Islanders missed the playoffs in the two years since Martin left.
Cizikas, now 27, carries an annual cap hit of $3.35 million, while Clutterbuck, about to turn 31, has a hit of $3.5 million. That’s an expensive fourth line — unless its members can rediscover what made them so good.
“We’re trying to get used to the new structure thing, with where we’re supposed to be. So maybe a little hesitation on our part,” Clutterbuck said. “But everything else — I think the offense will come back, feel each other out again, remember where we hang out and where we like to be. Stuff like that will come.
“The energy and commitment, we’re all on the same wavelength as far as beats-perminute go. So that’s a good thing. When one guy goes in, the second layer goes right in and that’s nice to have.”
It would be nice to have the production the three put up in 2015-16, as well, when Clutterbuck notched 15 goals, Martin 10, and Cizikas eight. But for a team that is just trying to figure out who it is before the regular season starts Oct. 4 in Carolina, the hope is this old trio will provide some direction.
“We’re working at it,” Shuttlebuck — eh, Clutterbuck — said, “just like everyone else.”