Is It Possible the New York Islanders Re-Sign Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin?

Is It Possible the New York Islanders Re-Sign Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin?

here we are two weeks into free agency and Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck have not signed with any team could they be back with the Islanders next year we’ve got that and a whole lot more coming up on today’s locked on Islanders podcast your lock on Islanders your daily podcast on the New York Islanders part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome everybody to the MonDay edition of the locked on Islanders podcast part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day I want to thank everyone who makes lockon Islanders your first listen every day don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast so you can get new episodes as soon as they drop today’s episode is brought to you by indeed still searching for a great candidate for your company don’t search just match Within indeed start hiring now with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at indeed.com loock on terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed busy show coming up today but first if there’s something Islanders related on your mind if you have a question a comment maybe a topic you’d like us to discuss on a future episode send us an email at lockon Islanders gmail.com and if you leave your first name and where you’re from we’re happy to mention you on the show when we discuss whatever is on your mind you could also follow the show on X at lockon Isles you could follow me gil Martin on X at ice Wars nyr vsny we’ll keep you up to date on all things Islanders all year long during the off season that’s hirings firings trade rumors free agency the draft if it’s happening to the New York Islanders we’ll cover it here on the locked on Islanders podcast and it’s always great to talk Islanders hockey with you game time or anytime so here we are it’s uh mid July like right smack in the middle of the month free agency started July 1st and Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin have not signed with any team now the question is will they be back this year on Long Island and if you would have asked me before free agency started I would have said it was unlikely that either one of them would return and yet because they haven’t signed with the Islanders but they also haven’t signed anywhere else I’m beginning to get the sneaking suspicion that L larell may very well have reached some kind of a verbal agreement with Clutterbuck or Martin or possibly with both basically saying I will free up enough cap space to pay you fill in the blank for the dollar amount maybe it’s a million million and a half maybe it’s closer to the league minimum of 775 although I doubt it I will free up enough cap space and if you don’t have a better off or elsewhere you’re welcome back on the island I’m not saying that I think they should be back on the island I am saying that that is something that would not surprise me at all and look let’s let’s break down the facts first with Cal Clutterbuck Clutterbuck basically played in all 82 games for the first time in his uh Islanders career he has been a a loyal member of the Islanders dating back more than a decade now he played in his 1,000th career NHL game last season now has 1,64 regular season games had his highest point total since 2018 2019 seven goals 19 points 32 penalty minutes he had a plus four plus minus rating and you know had 273 hits which is His Highest total since uh 2015 2016 so you can’t say the Islanders got nothing from Cal Clutterbuck I guess the question is this great that clutter was able to stay healthy right now he is 36 he will turn 37 in November clearly Cal Clutterbuck not the same player he was five years ago but clearly still somebody who could help the right team under the right circumstances has he lost a little bit off of his game absolutely is he still capable of playing at the NHL level I would say he is still capable but it’s got to be on the right team in the right situation and I think more than anything there are two aspects of Cal Clutterbuck game that give him value at this stage number one is he’s still physical those 273 hits led the Islanders by a large margin next on the team JG pageo with 19 96 so the margin right there of 77 more hits for Clutterbuck than anybody else clearly uh out there and let’s face certain facts Clutterbuck you know the Islanders we’ve talked and I’ve heard comments on YouTube and and Elsewhere on social media and emails basically saying hey if Clutterbuck and Martin aren’t back where is this team going to get physicality from who’s G to defend players you know last year they got rid of uh traded Ross Johnston uh if Clutterbuck and Martin are also gone who’s the tough guy on this roster who’s GNA stand up for his teammates who if somebody tries to take Liberties let’s say with oh you know let’s say doson who’s going to be out there to to sort of keep the peace and protect some of the Islanders more skilled guys so physicality and I don’t mean gooning it up because again only 32 penalty minutes in 82 games Clutterbuck contrary to what casual fans may think or fans of other teams may think he’s not a goon he’s a grinder and while he’s not afraid to drop the gloves that’s not not his primary Mo in the NHL never really has been for that matter so you still have that physicality which the Islanders clearly need in their lineup and then second you have leadership and experience he has worn a letter on his jersey for the last few years it’s been an a as Andrew Lee has been the captain and if you see the Islanders locker room and you’ll notice the respect that Cal Clutterbuck has among his teammates and he’s earned it throughout his NHL career and what he’s done the problem I have with bringing back Clutterbuck more than anything is and every dayers you’ve heard me talk about this for for a long time this is a team that needs to get younger faster and more skilled well Cal Clutterbuck Not Gonna Make You younger not gonna make you faster not GNA make you more skill now he will add as I said leadership experience and physicality and the Islanders need physicality and leadership as well but to me the key is this are there any players either down in Bridgeport or even who are going to be in training camp this year who deserve who can fill that fourth line roster spot maybe add a little speed along with the physicality and will cost less than Cal Clutterbuck would and to me the answer to that question is probably yes but we know L larell we know the way Lou larell tend to operate while he’ll give lip service to the fact that loyalty is not going to get in the way of winning time and time again over the course of his tenure as GM he has turned down deals that clearly would have benefited the team both you know certainly in the long term and in some instances in the short term as well because of his loyalty to quote unquote his guys and Clutterbuck is one of those guys I could easily see again that Lou made a oral agreement with Clutterbuck saying hey I’ll give you a million dollars this year if you can’t find anything better we will uh free up some cap space at some point before training camp or before the season starts and you’ll be back uh to on a one-year deal at a million dollar I don’t think that that’s the way the Islanders should go with all due respect to Cal Clutterbuck who I like and who I respect as a hockey player and who I think you know deserves a spot in the Islanders Hall of Fame once he’s retired but I just don’t think it’s the direction this team needs to go in right now you can get uh another player for less money than Cal Clutterbuck who may not have the leadership or experience but can add some speed add some physicality and help this team get younger but again we’ll see uh what happens the fact that Clutterbuck has not signed anywhere else when of the two uh of Martin and Clutterbuck I think clutter would have more uh other teams would be more interested in adding him on a one or twoyear deal it kind of leads me to believe he may end up resigning with the New York Islanders who again need to free up cap space anyway because as of right now L larell cannot field a full 23an roster based on the current cap situation we have got a lot more to get to uh Matt Martin what about his future would is it possible that he’s back plus uh a former Islander and someone who has spent a lot of time at Bridgeport heads back to Europe for our islander’s birthday of the day a forward who was with the Islanders in the early to mid 90s and had uh both a 40G goal season and a 30 goal season with the Isles let’s see if you can guess who that is we’ve got all that and more coming up on today’s locked on Islanders podcast today’s episode is brought to you by indeed we’re driven by the search for better but when it comes to hiring the best way to search for a candidate isn’t to search at all don’t search match with indeed if you need to hire you need indeed indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million Global monthly 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team every day so we mentioned Cal Clutterbuck what about Matt Martin and there’s a dilemma with Matt Martin Cal Clutterbuck as we mentioned played in all 82 games last year Matt Martin played in 57 so he missed 25 regular season games and a couple of playoff games as well Martin only had four goals and eight points he also was a plus player interestingly enough a plus seven for Matt Martin which really puts him you know pretty much up there on on the Islanders uh he had 151 hits and uh you know only believe it or not 43 penalty minutes and again what does Matt Martin bring to the table it’s physicality its experience he’s a glue guy in the locker room all three members of the identity line historically have been glue guys that’s one of the reasons they were so beloved by the Islanders fans and by their teammates Morton is not as old as Cal Clutterbuck Mattie Marts is uh you know born in uh 1989 so he’s you know 35 right now but again a player who plays the style that Matt Martin plays is going to wear down after all those hits and all that physicality I mean he has been credited with 3,854 hits again like Cal Clutterbuck Matt Martin a great Islander probably deserves induction Into The Islander Hall of Fame once his career is over only needs 45 games more in his NHL career to reach a th000 and look for a any player in the NHL a thousand games is an amazing milestone for a fourth line player however a guy who you know scoring 10 goals in a year is huge he has 81 goals in his NHL career or as Wayne Gretzky in his prime would call it one season or Mike bossy you know that would be a season in 10 games for Mike bossi okay but that’s not the role Matt Martin plays the fact that Matt Martin has had difficulty staying healthy I think is part of the problem and again never a guy who was Speedy but as your body wears down you know the lack of speed becomes more of an issue I don’t think Martin has as much left in the tank as Clutterbuck does right now and you could you could argue that Maddie Marts was playing hurt last year and that you know you can’t judge his performance on the ice based solely on last year but the flip side of that and the counterargument to that is that as hockey players get older the chances of them getting injured are great greater and the amount of time it takes them to recover from those injuries is also greater so you know a 25y old who plays the same way Matt Martin plays statistically is less likely to miss significant time due to injuries than a 35y old who plays the way Matt Martin does and again with Clutterbuck I think the fact that that he hasn’t signed somewhere else speaks a little bit more to the fact that he may be back Matt Martin again I think would have more of a difficulty signing a a new deal with another team but it’s still the fact that he hasn’t there’s been no rumors out there even oh Matt Martin was speaking to the Nashville Predators uh just to throw Barry trotz into the equation if he’s looking for a you know a fourth line grind SL tough guy uh haven’t heard anything about Martin or Clutterbuck any other teams being interested any other teams wanting to sign them or negotiating with them and so in the back of my mind I just sort of hear a little voice that says Lou probably made you know some kind of agreement an agreement with Martin Andor Clutterbuck and there’s a chance they’ll be back now again you got to free up some cap space to make this or any other move happen and again I will reiterate as much as I love as a hockey player Matt Martin and respect what he’s done for the New York Islanders over the course of his career I think the Islanders are better off in 20124 right now moving on from both Clutterbuck and Martin because I think think they need to get younger faster and more skilled and you know bringing in or you know having a fourth line player like if you if you were to give Martin and Clutterbuck a million each this year you know that is still more than you would have to pay a lot of other guys on this team who could fill the spot Kyle mlan Hudson fashing you know they’re earning the league minimum if you end up bringing up uh uh you know Julian gotier he’s making a smidge more than the league minimum and he can add more speed to the game uh Liam FY who they signed last week not really a fourth oh he could be a fourth line guy be an aggressive four checker he’ll earn the league minimum Frederick carlstrom would earn the league minimum you add that together and you’re GNA save you know almost half a million dollars uh by signing or or using those guys on the fourth line as opposed to Martin and Clutterbuck and then the the the math has to add up do the intangibles and the experience that Martin and Clutterbuck give you is it worth more than that half a million in cap space plus keeping in mind that some of the other guys the younger guys are going to be blocked from making the NHL as a result of the move I think L probably brings one or both of them back I don’t think he should but Lou is GNA l so we’re going to see what ends up happening with that we’ll keep an eye on it all offseason long here on the lockon Islanders podcast we have got more to discuss on today’s show a longtime Islander Prospect and a player who played with the team heading back to Europe not the first one this off season obviously we’ll talk about that plus our Islanders birthday of the day all that and more still to come on today’s locked on Islanders podcast lock on has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube now it’s also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app locked on sports today is here for you 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of locked on plus our national shows covering every League find locked on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app so another Islanders farm hand another former fairly high draft pick heading back to Europe uh this time it is auto Kila uh who was bridgeport’s fourth leading scorer last year and you know he was he had 30 points in just 47 games nine goals 21 assists keep in mind he was one point behind Dennis cholowski for third on the team in scoring and four points behind Brian pinno per second and yet Kola played 21 less games than uh cholowski and 25 less games than Pino Kola originally drafted in the fourth round by the Islanders in 2016 uh 64 229 pounds the native of Finland he’s a you know pretty Nic siiz guy played 28 games for the Islanders over the course of three seasons that he got a call up 12 games in 2019 2020 eight games each in 2021 2022 and 2022 2023 did not get called up this past year but when healthy was still a big part of bridgeport’s not so wonderful uh offense let let let’s put it that way but again Bridgeport gonna have to make some changes there uh a and we’ll see whether or not they do make uh you know if they can replace the productivity and you know at this point the Islanders seeing another draft pick another former pick a mid- round pick in this case with Kiva from the 200 16 draft head over uh to Europe because of a lack of opportunity and keep in mind this means there are no players left in the NHL right now from that 2016 Islanders draft class first round pick was kefir Bellow he played 95 games in the NHL then you had anat goolish in the fourth round Ado qua in the four round he played the 28 games in the NHL that I mentioned and then sixth and seventh round picks Colin Adams uh Nick Pasto and David quinnville none of them made it to the NHL but again overall a disappointing turn and OT Kola becomes the latest European uh to leave and you know as he’s out the door one of the things he was quoted as saying was oh how great it is to be with the winning organization as he signed his contract in Finland was that taking a little shot at the Islanders maybe uh but either way ad Kila no longer signing and no longer going to be with the Islanders organization he heads back home to Finland time now for our Islanders birthday of the day and today is the 61st birthday of former Islander Winger Steve Thomas Thomas a native of Stockport England not too many Brits uh British born players make it to the NHL 511 185 pounds made his NHL debut with Toronto an 8485 later played for Chicago and then was traded to the Islanders in the 9192 season early on his best year with the Islanders well overall 9293 where he had 87 points 37 of those goals added 17 points in 18 playoff games during that 1993 run to the conference final and then in 9394 Thomas had 42 goals which was a career high and 75 points to go with 139 penalty minutes spent one more year with the Islanders in 9495 then played for the Devils the Maple Leafs a second tour with the Blackhawks and then briefly with Anna and Detroit before hanging up his skates after the 90 uh 2003 2004 season 1,235 NHL games 421 goals 933 points and 1, 306 penalty minutes add 54 goals and 107 points in 174 playoff games did not win a Stanley Cup but came close uh a couple of times later became an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning uh and the St Louis Blues but hasn’t coached since 2016 2017 one of his better games with the Islanders how about this one April 15 1992 Islanders hosting the New Jersey Devils in the season finale at the Nassau Coliseum uh Chris terrari and Glenn Healey are the goalies Healey for the Islanders terrar for the Devils this game all Islanders they end up with a big and easy win why well how about this Steve Thomas with the Islanders up one to nothing in the second period scores his 27th of the Year Tom cers and Daniel Mara with the assist then he sets up Ray Ferraro for his 40th of the year and then with a minute and a half left in the second period it’s Thomas again from marowa and Jeff fin ly that’s his second goal of the game 28th of the Year Islanders at that point up five to nothing after two periods in the third Thomas scores twice lechance Scott Lance Pierre Turon assist on the first and then pier tjon and Joe Ricky assist on the second an absolutely great game for Steve Thomas he ends up with four goals one assist he is a plus five and he had nine shots on goal in this game which helped him reach the 30 goal Mark for the season Islanders blank the Devils 7 nothing and a young rookie goalie named Maran bro door stepped in and played the third period for the Devils he a 22 save shut out but Steve Thomas just an incredible fivepoint game he is our Island birthday of the day I want to thank everyone who makes locked on Islanders your first listen every day every dayers again we will have the latest Islanders news notes and happenings any trade rumors that are out there I still think L larell has to make another move to free up a little cap space before the season starts just to fill in a 23an roster something’s got to give at some point between now and the start of the season have a great day everyone keep cool it’s hot out here in on Long Island stay safe and of course let’s go Islanders

We are now two weeks into NHL free agency and both Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin have not re-signed with any team. In fact, there haven’t even been rumors of any other team being interested in either player. Is it possible that Lou Lamoriello has spoken to both players and told them he will bring them back if they don’t have a better offer elsewhere? Is this good for the Islanders? We discuss the future of both players on today’s show.

And another Isles minor league player from Europe signs with a team in his home country and leaves the organization. This time, it’s Otto Koivula.

All this and more on today’s Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin.

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