Cal Clutterbuck put on injured reserve as Isles keep familiar roster
Cal Clutterbuck of the New York Islanders skates during the team's first day of training camp at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. Credit: James Escher
The Islanders’ initial 23-man roster is, as expected, quite the familiar one.
The main question answered at Monday’s deadline for submitting the roster was the status of right wing Cal Clutterbuck and defenseman Scott Mayfield. Clutterbuck was placed on injured reserve retroactive to the preseason opener on Sept. 26 with soreness. President and general manager Lou Lamoriello said he expects Mayfield to be available for Thursday night’s season opener against the Panthers at UBS Arena.
“Cal had a little soreness after one of the games,” Lamoriello said of Clutterbuck, who required season-ending shoulder surgery in March. “We shut him down completely to get it so that it was 100%. Maybe we did a little too much. He has been skating on his own and he will be joining the team on a day-to-day situation. We expect this to be a short turnaround as far as him being in the lineup.”
Clutterbuck, who played 59 games last season, is eligible to be activated off IR by Thursday, but Lamoriello said that isn’t likely. He said Mayfield has been a “little under the weather” but will resume practicing on Tuesday.
In all, 21 of the players on the initial roster dressed for the Islanders last season as they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018. Defenseman Alexander Romanov, acquired from the Canadiens, and right wing Nikita Soshnikov, returning to the NHL after three seasons in the Russian KHL, are the two newcomers.
The Islanders are carrying 14 forwards: Josh Bailey, Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier, Kieffer Bellows, Casey Cizikas, Ross Johnston, Anders Lee, Matt Martin, Brock Nelson, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri, Zach Parise, Soshnikov and Oliver Wahlstrom. There are seven defensemen — Sebastian Aho, Noah Dobson, Mayfield, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Romanov and Robin Salo — to go with goalies Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov.
Lamoriello said Salo will be the sixth defenseman, likely paired with Mayfield. That makes Aho the extra blueliner as he beat out Grant Hutton and Paul LaDue.
Up front, Soshnikov, Bellows and Wahlstrom are battling for two spots in the lineup. One likely will be reassigned to the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport once Clutterbuck is healthy. Bellows and Soshnikov would need to clear waivers for that.
The initial roster leaves the Islanders with $1.9 million in salary-cap space under the $82.5 million ceiling.
Lamoriello said he was impressed with the training camp performances of forward prospects Aatu Raty, William Dufour and Simon Holmstrom.
“They’re closer than maybe we would have thought they might have been,” he said. “We’d rather bring them up a little later rather than too soon.”
Lamoriello added that defense prospect Bode Wilde and journeyman right wing Richard Panik “will be assigned within the next 48 hours to a different location” after neither attended training camp. Wilde, a second-round pick in 2018, was reassigned to Sweden last season as the lone player in the organization not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
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.
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