It’s pretty well known that in an unexpected run from the New York Islanders, one thing that the team lacked was scoring depth. Barry Trotz acknowledged that the team lacked “pop… up front in the locker clean out interviews and it was apparent in the second round of the playoffs. Something the Islanders do have though, is what’s been called an “identity line.…
Made up of Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck, the identity line’s main purpose is to provide energy and hitting, with the line accumulating a combined 613 even strength hits this year. In terms of how they fared against the opponent, Cizikas was a plus-22 this year, Clutterbuck was a plus-six and Martin was a plus-five. That being said, the line produced a bit of offense as well, and actually, Casey Cizikas put up career highs in goals, points and shots.
When all three players were playing, the Islanders had a record of 35-16-6, securing 76 of 114 possible points, totaling 67% of the possible points they could. If that points percentage continued across the entire season, it would have put the Islanders second in the league at 109 points, only behind Tampa Bay. However with at least one player player from the line out of the lineup, the Islanders were quite a bit closer to average, at 13-11-1, securing only 27 of 50 points and totalling just 54% of possible points.
Few teams have a fourth line in place that remains consistent from the beginning of the season until the end and continues even into future years. Even less teams have a fourth line that has actually been crafted together for a specific purpose. When you look around the league, a lot of teams have mix and matched players to create a fourth line based off of: 1) a big player specifically for hitting, 2) a former top-nine player whose play has declined and has fell down the lineup, or 3) a young player up from the AHL who is on a bit of a trial run. You usually end up with a line that doesn’t really have a specific purpose.
Without a doubt, the identity line accomplished what it was supposed to do this year. The question that comes up is whether or not it’s sustainable to keep a line like this together for the years to come.
In an offseason of uncertainty and change last year, Lamoriello had to scramble to put pieces together for the season and did a good job of it. But now that the foundation is in in place for success in coming years, does keeping this line together give the Islanders the best chance at success?
Breaking it down, New York had a five clear top forwards who were relied on for the bulk of the scoring. After that, the sixth and seventh leading point scorers were Cizikas and Valtteri Filppula, who were on pace for about 37 and 35 points per 82 games respectively. This year as mentioned, Cizikas produced higher point totals than his career baseline and Filppula is at best, a decent stop-gap in the lineup. Move down the depth chart in scoring and you run into Anthony Beauvillier and Leo Komarov. Beauvillier didn’t progress this year like anyone had hoped and for Komarov to only put up 26 points, not even as part of the checking line, was only really worthwhile as a member of the penalty kill. The lineup is filled out by Clutterbuck, Martin and Andrew Ladd when he’s healthy.
Looking ahead, of the 12 forwards mentioned, five need new contracts, with three of them being top forwards. If they’re back, the team is in the same position scoring-wise as last year. If one or two of the UFAs walk to free agency, the team likely replaces them with other free agents who can score. Maybe they’d be an upgrade, maybe not, but either way, the team is in a similar situation as this season, where they lack scoring depth.
Beauviller will be back next year but we have no idea how much he’s going to progress offensively. Filppula’s roster spot is really the only area where the Islanders can actually upgrade from a depth forward to a scorer, without having to move a contract around. If they do add someone in place of Filppula in free agency, there’s no room to try and develop Michael Dal Colle or other prospects like Josh Ho-Sang.
The Islanders lineup is congested with bottom-six forwards, being the three identity line players, as well as Beauvillier, Komarov and Ladd. That’s not to say none of these players are useful– we’ve seen they can be. The point is they don’t provide enough scoring. If you keep them around, you have six other spots to try and pack all of your scoring into. If the UFAs do come back, you’ve got just one forward spot to be able to upgrade, being Filppula’s.
The point here is that the Islanders have invested a lot into a bottom-six group of players. Between those forwards is almost $18 million, plus whatever Beauviller gets on his contract (where we’ll likely see a bridge-deal). Ladd’s contract isn’t going anywhere, nobody is giving up on Beauviller yet at his age and Komarov’s contract is maybe even more immovable than the contracts of Martin or Clutterbuck.
Looking at everything, maybe the identity line is important to the hockey team. At least the head-to-head stats say that. But if it comes down to either adding scoring with a free roster spot or keeping the line together, it might be worthwhile at least trying to move out a player and seeing if anyone bites.
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