Trading for Cal Clutterbuck helped build Islanders’ identity

The trade not only was made for the wrong reason, it was a deal that pretty much no other executive in the NHL would have made at the time.

But Garth Snow, then the Islanders general manager, did it sending 20-year-old Nino Niederrieter to Minnesota less than three years after his fifth-overall selection in the entry draft in exchange for a third-round selection and bottom-six forward Cal Clutterbuck.

The deal followed at least a year of bickering between the Islanders and Niederreiter’s camp that led to the winger’s agent requesting a trade after his 2011-12 rookie season in which he was kept on the roster so the team could meet the cap floor and then was not invited to the ensuing training camp.

Niederreiter was used sparingly in 55 games, scoring one goal, while scratched repeatedly. Then, while the NHL was enduring Owners’ Lockout III in 2012-13, the Swiss recorded 36 points (17-19) in 39 AHL games. His reward was to not receive a training camp invite after the lockout ended in mid-January.

When a trade request became public, Snow apparently did not seek a reconciliation. Instead, he moved the talented Niederreiter to the Wild for a 25-year-old forward who had scored a career total of 62 goals in five seasons.

Eight years later, that forward is the third longest-tenured player on the Islanders. Eight years later, Clutterbuck has emerged as one of the team’s integral pieces in the playoffs that continued on Monday night in Tampa with Game 5 of the Cup semifinals.

Cal Clutterbuck Getty Images

Josh Bailey is the senior Islander, and in fact the senior New York pro athlete, here since 2008-09. Then comes Casey Cizikas, who joined the club in 2012-13. Then Clutterbuck. And though Matt Martin’s tenure was interrupted with his two seasons in Toronto in 2016-17 and 2017-18, he first joined the Islanders for 2010-11.

So three of the four Islanders with the most seniority (let’s not be technical or picky) are the three guys who are at the core of their identity. You might even want to call the trio, “The Identity Line.” Oops, someone already did.

Cizikas, Martin and Clutterbuck are at the core of the team identity and have been at the core of the team’s success throughout the tournament. Cizikas, of course, scored the breakaway overtime goal to beat the Bruins in Game 2 of the second round.

And Martin and Clutterbuck not only have continued to pound away and take pieces of flesh from the Lightning, they both contributed offensively in Saturday night’s Pulockian victory in Game 4 at the Coliseum.

It was Clutterbuck who wristed one from the right point that created the rebound off of which Mathew Barzal scored to give his team a 2-0 lead. And then it was Martin who escaped Brayden Point to put home a neat backhander off an Adam Pelech rebound to elevate the lead to 3-0 late in the second period and stand as the winner.

It appears as if Clutterbuck and Martin have elevated their games throughout the playoffs but that might not be true. It might just be that there is more focus on them during the postseason, when everything is magnified. It might just be that the playoffs represent their — and Cizikas’ — time.

It’s not that they have to get ready for the playoffs but rather that the playoffs get ready for them.

“The funny thing is that they really play playoff hockey all year and I don’t know if they know how to play any other way,” head coach Barry Trotz said when asked specifically about Martin and Clutterbuck. “I say that with a lot of respect because that’s a style of play where they’re bumping and grinding, they’re good defensively, they get a forecheck, they’re hard on their opponents and they wear people out.

Cal Clutterbuck checks Bryden Point. Getty Images

“That’s sort of their DNA.”

Martin and Clutterbuck hit for a reason. With a purpose. They do not hit to injure. But they intend for every blow to make an impression. Incredibly, legal checks thrown by the two wingers concussed three defensemen — Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren and Brandon Carlo — within six weeks.

The plays ended each defenseman’s season. For Cizikas, Martin and Clutterbuck (who has matched his season goal total with four in the playoffs), their season was just getting started.

“Come playoff time, that fits in their wheelhouse,” said Trotz, who is comfortable sending that unit on for any matchup. “That’s why they always have a real good playoffs for us.”

So, Niederreiter for Clutterbuck. Are you making that trade now? If so, at least you would be doing it for the right reason.