Fate of two NY Islanders long time stalwarts is starting to feel inevitable

In the 1988 movie Cocktail (which has an Isles' pennant cameo), Tom Cruise's character Brian Flanagan says, "Everything ends badly; otherwise, it wouldn't end."

With all due respect to romantic-comedy drama, that's not always true in sports. Sometimes, it's just time, and there is nothing but mutual respect and admiration between players and the organization.

That's the path the New York Islanders and veterans Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin seem destined to take as we approach training camp next month. In an exclusive one-on-one interview with Lou Lamoriello in The Athletic, the Isles GM gave Arthur Staple an update on the two fourth-line stalwarts. "You’re talking about two quality people — we’re not saying they won’t be here — but I have total confidence in this group that people will come forward when given the opportunity to do so," Lamoriello said. "This is the way that sports go: You never replace certain types of people, but you always have to move on at some point."

While both Clutterbuck and Martin indicated that they both want to play and ideally remain on Long Island, the Islanders have constructed a roster prepared to move on without them. Lamoriello wouldn't close the door completely on a return of either player, but given the Islanders' cap situation, that would require one or more subtractions to create a roster spot for either player.

“The retirement narrative was certainly not something I started,” said the 35-year-old Martin at season's end. "I plan to play next year. My future is unknown at the moment, but that’ll sort itself out.” Martin has played 955 career games, 45 away from the 1,000-game milestone.

Clutterbuck achieved that 1,000-game mark during the 2023-24 season, playing in all 82 regular season games, casting aside doubts about his durability after recent injury-plagued seasons. He also became the first player in NHL history to record 4,000 hits. “I’d love to play and obviously I’d love to play here,” Clutterbuck said. “This has been home for a very long time. I put a lot into my time here and had great experiences. I will be an Islander for life.”

The team added Anthony Duclair to fill a top-six role and plans to give Maxim Tsyplakov every opportunity to prove his KHL stats can translate to North America. Meanwhile, Kyle MacLean proved he belonged last year and earned himself a new contract. The team also agreed to contracts with RFAs Oliver Wahlstrom and Simon Holmstrom.

Before last season, Josh Bailey wanted to keep playing and do so on Long Island. He was traded, bought out, and had a PTO with the Ottawa Senators before being released. The end of Bailey's tenure wasn't great, including being scratched playoffs. It left a bad taste in his mouth in the following days. That wasn't the case for either Clutterbuck or Martin. If last season was the end, they would have finished their Isles' careers on good notes, even if it's not exactly on their terms.