NY Islanders' Casey Cizikas Trying To Rebound From Horrible Start

I wrote an article during the early parts of the season titled “Just Look At The Flowers, Casey Cizikas”. The point of that article was that “Zeeker”, who had long been one of my favorite players, was no longer playing well enough to justify playing him every night. If I were to give Cizikas a grade at that time, it would have been a resounding “F”. But a long time has passed since then. Has Cizikas improved?

Through 55 games this season, Cizikas has recorded four goals and nine points with a -12 plus/minus. None of that is particularly awe-inspiring, but Cizikas has never been a forward the Islanders pay to light the lamp. 

They pay him to be Casey Cizikas: forecheck, backcheck, paycheck. It’s a simple formula that's worked for Cizikas since he joined Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck on the “E=MC^2” line back in the mid-2010s. 

But to be frank, most of Cizikas' lines have gotten absolutely caved in for much of the season. 

He was a part of the worst line in all of hockey (minimum 40 minutes of TOI) when he played alongside Kyle MacLean and Oliver Wahlstrom. Their xG% was a putrid 20% per moneypuck.com 

Roy tried Cizikas briefly alongside Pierre Engvall and Simon Holmstrom, and again, that line struggled with a 37.6 xG%. That line ranked 418th out of the 465 lines that have played at least 40 minutes this season. Not good

To make matters worse, as I mentioned back in early December, the penalty kill unit that Cizikas shepherds has been one of the worst in the history of the league. Despite killing 21 of their 23 penalties in January, the Islanders' penalty kill still ranks second-worst in the NHL at 70.7%. That's how bad they were before.

It’s not entirely fair to Cizikas to blame the penalty kill’s woes entirely on him, but the reality is that defense is a major part of Cizikas’ role on the Islanders. An analysis of his season thus far is incomplete without acknowledging how terrible the unit has been. 

But it's not all bad

Nowadays, you’ll find Cizikas skating alongside Holmstrom and J.G. Pageau and that has been magical for Cizikas. That line has been (at least) usable for Roy. They've now played 108 minutes together, and hold a 51.6 xG%. That isn’t phenomenal, but it's at least average for line combinations with 40 minutes together; they rank 244th out of 465. 

Of lines with at least 100 minutes, Cizikas’s group ranks in the top 100 (of 155). Again, that’s not good nor bad. It's usable. 

Hockeystatcards.com identifies a similar trend with Cizikas’ play; it’s getting better. During January, his GameScore averages finally began poking above 0. If Cizikas continues those types of performances, he may be usable after all.

Don't get confused, Cizikas is still playing extremely hard. He's a high-effort, high-energy guy for the bottom six. It's what Lou Lamoriello signed him to be, but it's not having the same impact as it has in years past. One could never accuse Cizikas of giving up, but it's just not working anymore.

Cizikas has a massive hole to dig out of to return to replacement level, let alone competency. At $2,500,000 per year, his cap hit is not worth the services he provides right now. There’s still hope for improvement, but it is fading quickly 

Overall Grade: D