One day before the trade deadline, the New York Islanders accepted the Philadelphia Flyers. The jury was still out on what the islands would do. Are they sellers? Are they some kind of buyer?
No one knows what the islands will do in the trading period. Not even Bank Manager Barry Trotz. But with Andy Greene and Cal Clutterbuck making healthy scratches against the Flyers, the possibility of a trade was understandably quite high.
Both are expected at UFA. The possibility of either being traded was already relatively high for the islands. Especially Cal Clutterbuck. The hard-hitting fourth-liner is exactly the kind of player that fighting teams like to contribute on the deadline.
He kills penalties, inflicts deep insults, hits everything that skates, and rarely takes a penalty considering how physical he is.
Andy Greene brought to the island before the 2020 trade deadline, is the kind of veteran D-man that teams in the playoffs also like to keep their blueline.
We were told that both players were out of the lineup for “maintenance”. And that could very well be true. The Islands love both games and keeping them for next year (and maybe longer for Cal Clutterbuck) is a real possibility.
The islands have already re-signed the other two members of the fourth line. Cizikas signed until 2026-27 ($ 2.5 million AAV), while Matt Martin signed a four-year $ 6 million deal back in January 2021 ($ 1.5 million AAV). So Cal fits a little longer.
But you can not help but think how convenient the timing is for this movement. Again, it could very well be a maintenance day with the Islanders, who only played yesterday, but with the trade deadline just 24 hours out and both UFAs, this screams “to keep them injury free for a deadline move”.
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