NY Islanders Cal Clutterbuck out indefinitely; Aatu Räty recalled

New York Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck is out indefinitely after suffering an upper-body injury in the second period against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. 20-year-old Aatu Räty has been recalled from Bridgeport.

Clutterbuck has never played all 82 games in a season, but the last two years have been especially trying. After playing 59 games in 2021-22, he was shut down and underwent shoulder surgery ending his season in March. Before the latest injury, he missed 13 of the team’s 47 games, including eight straight at one point.

Clutterbuck has one season remaining on his two-year, $3.5 million extension he signed last March. “Things have always hurt a little bit,” Clutterbuck said to Newsday earlier in the week.

“There’s a difference between injuries and bumps and bruises. The bumps and bruises you can deal with. Injuries are a different breed. As far as soreness goes and my body moving, physically, I don’t feel much different.”

In seven games with the Isles, Räty scored two goals before being sent down on Jan. 11 after the team momentarily got healthier. Skating on the entry-level contract he signed as an 18-year-old, if Räty plays more than nine games, it will burn a year of his contract, something the organization likely wanted to avoid. However, Clutterbuck's injury combined with Hudson Fasching being day-to-day and likely out tonight versus the Carolina Hurricanes forced their hand.

At Saturday's morning skate, Räty was centering a line with Matt Martin and Ross Johnston, meaning Casey Cizikas is likely being moved back to the wing, a position he played earlier this month well with Mathew Barzal at the start of the team's four-game Pacific coast road trip.