4:39 PM: According to CapFriendly, MacLean is expected to make $775K at the NHL level for all three years of the deal. The Islanders will have approximately $5.8MM in cap space heading into the summer months.
10:16 AM: The Islanders have agreed to a three-year extension with pending RFA forward Kyle MacLean, per a team announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed.
After spending the first three seasons of his professional career on minor-league contracts with the Isles’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, the 25-year-old inked his first NHL contract last offseason. An undrafted free agent signing by Bridgeport out of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals in 2020, MacLean earned his first NHL recall on Jan. 17 and remained on the roster for most of the rest of the campaign.
The son of Isles assistant coach John MacLean was serviceable in fourth-line minutes, posting four goals, nine points and a +5 rating in 32 regular-season games while averaging 10:05 per contest. By the time the playoffs rolled around, MacLean had worked his way into an everyday spot in the lineup, skating in all five postseason games in their first-round loss to the Hurricanes while playing nearly 12 minutes per night.
However, some advanced metrics yield cause for concern about his future effectiveness as an NHLer. MacLean struggled in the faceoff dot (42.5 FOW%), had an unsustainably high shooting percentage for a player without much of a goal-scoring history (15.4%), and controlled only 42.4% of shot attempts when on the ice at even strength despite seeing rather even defensive and offensive zone usage. He wasn’t tested on the penalty kill, either.
MacLean wasn’t afraid to lay the body, though, recording 60 hits, and was responsible with the puck when it was on his stick. He’s surely earned himself a spot on the opening night roster, as evidenced by today’s three-year commitment, but he’s likely better used as a 13th forward long-term than an everyday fourth-line center.
Head coach Patrick Roy will certainly have him in the mix for the spot entering training camp, though. A three-year deal puts him at 28 years old upon expiry in 2027, walking him to unrestricted free agency.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Just what we needed. Another fourth liner going to stick around for three more years and maybe score a total of twelve goals. Plus he’s not good at face offs. But he is the son of one of our coaches who also happens to be an ex-Devil. These are the kind of players the Islanders don’t need anymore of, let alone for three more years. We had to make this signing now so no other team could steal him away from us. Islanders ownership needs to wake up and actually start looking at what Grampa Lou is doing to their team. He needs to be replaced by a General Manager who understands how today’s NHL operates. This is a garbage signing by a man with bubblegum between his ears for brains. He’s talked in the past about how he wants to make a Hockey trade. Other teams make them , and trade star players between teams, yet he can’t seem to make one. If he thinks keeping this team together for another year with this personnel because he thinks they can maybe go far in the playoffs, then he’s ready for the Old Folks Home. Bill Torrey, and Al Arbour, must be turning over in their graves watching this abomination.