Why the Islanders' Casey Cizikas is not playing a traditional fourth-line role
The Islanders' Casey Cizikas is being counted on for some offense as well as being a hard checker Credit: Errol Anderson
Casey Cizikas has never objected to being identified as a fourth-liner. He is well aware of that role entering his 16th NHL season and, quite likely, his last with the Islanders.
It’s the coaches who are always sensitive to terming it a fourth line, not wanting to make the trio feel like it has less of a role within the team framework. Barry Trotz frequently called Cizikas’ longstanding partnership with Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck the Islanders' “Identity Line,” because their hard forecheck and physical play set a tone.
But perhaps current coach Pete DeBoer is not just paying lip service when he refrains from calling Cizikas’ line the Islanders’ fourth, instead saying the team needs balanced scoring across the four lines.
“All our forwards are in the same boat,” DeBoer said after Friday’s practice at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. “We have to have four lines that can score. If you’re playing on a line with Cizikas and [Ondrej] Palat, that’s still an offensive line. That’s still a line that we need to score. We don’t play our fourth line six or seven minutes. They’re going to play double-digit minutes.”
Cizikas and Palat skated with newcomer Matias Maccelli, signed as a free agent because of his offensive potential, on Friday and that trio should be together for the Islanders’ home opener against the Devils on Saturday night at UBS Arena. Speedy Anthony Duclair, best suited for a scoring role, was with Cizikas and Palat to start Wednesday night’s 2-1 season-opening loss in Toronto before being swapped with Maccelli.
Meanwhile, prototypical fourth-liner Kyle MacLean will remain a healthy scratch.
“You definitely play to the strengths to a certain level,” Cizikas told Newsday in a recent conversation. “You know you’re not going to get as many opportunities as the top guys so you’ve got to make your shifts count.
“You can be hard on the forecheck. You don’t have to go in there and blow guys up. You can bump guys. But if you’re hard and you’re quick on them and you cause them to make turnovers that lead to chances, that’s just as good or even better. It’s hard to replicate what Marty and Clutter brought to the table. They’re top five in the league in hits all time. So you’ve got to find ways to build on the strengths that the players you’re playing with have.”
So as much as Palat, Maccelli, or anyone else that DeBoer places with Cizikas must adjust their games to Cizikas’ style, it’s incumbent upon Cizikas to play the way DeBoer wants.
How long Cizikas remains playing for DeBoer with the Islanders is uncertain. Cizikas, who will be 36 by next offseason, is on an expiring, six-year, $15 million deal and does not have a no-trade or no-movement clause to keep him from being a trade rental.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it,” Cizikas said. “It’s not on my mind constantly. We’re here for a simple goal and that’s, first and foremost, to make the playoffs.”
DeBoer is counting on Cizikas’ line for offensive production to make that a reality.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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