Andrew Gross: Islanders veteran Casey Cizikas still putting in maximum effort ahead of 35th birthday
Islanders center Casey Cizikas looks on against the New Jersey Devils in the first period of an NHL hockey game at UBS Arena on Dec. 23, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The common perception of Casey Cizikas is something akin to the Energizer Bunny, or for older fans more familiar with Looney Tunes cartoons, the Tasmanian Devil — just a boundless bundle of motion unwilling or unable to sit still.
That energy has served Cizikas well across 15 NHL seasons, all with the Islanders. And after a rough start to this season, Cizikas, who will turn 35 next Friday, again is centering an effective fourth line and creating an identity for how the team plays with his passionate play.
The Islanders, who will resume their season after the Olympic break on Thursday in Montreal, desperately need that kind of vitality from Cizikas in their final 24 games as they push to maintain a playoff position.
So it was a bit incongruous to hear Cizikas’ response when Newsday asked him how he maintains that level of energy at his advancing hockey age.
“The biggest thing for me is rest,” Cizikas said after Thursday’s practice at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. “I’m rarely awake past 10 o’clock. Usually my wife and I, we’ve got to go up to bed around 8:30, 9 o’clock and then fall asleep around 9:30, 10 o’clock the latest if I’m tossing and turning a little bit.”
Also somewhat surprising was Tony DeAngelo’s take on Cizikas, a longtime opponent before he joined the Islanders last season.
“You know, it’s funny, I never disliked him when I played against him,” DeAngelo said. “I probably disliked half of these guys when I played against them. But not him. He plays hard and he’s the kind of guy you’d probably not like. But he just plays a hard, honest game. And locker room-wise, he’s great. Just a good guy. He’s kind of softer-spoken than you might think compared to the way he plays and energizes around the ice.”
In comparison, Cal Clutterbuck — Cizikas’ longtime linemate, who played an agitating game and constantly chirped at opponents — was somebody DeAngelo disliked until he met him as a teammate.
This is Clutterbuck’s second season in retirement. The former Identity Line’s third member, Matt Martin, stopped playing after last season. Cizikas acknowledged that their absences affected him.
“That definitely was tough,” said Cizikas, now centering Kyle MacLean and Marc Gatcomb. “You play with two guys for a decade, you know each other’s games. You can communicate to each other. But you lose those two guys and now you’re trying to recreate that. It definitely took me a while for me to get used to that.”
In November, Cizikas knew coach Patrick Roy was considering making him a healthy scratch because of his slow start.
Now he has seven goals and eight assists in 57 games, including the opening goal in the Islanders’ last game before the Olympic break, a 3-1 road win over the Devils on Feb. 5.
MoneyPuck.com calculated that Cizikas’ expected goals of 3.3 over the past 10 games led the Islanders. His figure of 9.1 for the season is eighth on the team. And he’s third on the Islanders with 109 hits.
“It took a while to gain that trust back from the coaches,” Cizikas said. “What me, Mac and Gats have right now as a line, the trust we have in one another, we know our role. We know how we have to play to earn ice time.”
“Since I’ve been, we’ve used him on a wing, we’ve used as a center,” Roy said. “Right now, it’s crystal-clear. We’re using him as a centerman. He’s such a great model. He’s such a good leader. You can use him as an example.”
Even if the reality of who Cizikas is doesn’t always match the perception.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
