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Scott Mayfield

Snapshots: Mayfield, Rodrigues, Barkov

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Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield has been one of the better bargains in the league in recent seasons.  A bit of a late bloomer, he opted to take a five-year deal with a cap hit of just $1.45MM, giving him some much-desired stability in the process.  Since then, the 30-year-old has become an important part of their top four, logging nearly 20 minutes a night in a shutdown role.  A pending UFA, Mayfield is now well-positioned to potentially more than double that price tag on his next deal and he made it clear to Newsday’s Andrew Gross that his desire is to remain with New York.  The Isles already have over $73MM in commitments for next season per CapFriendly with a handful of roster spots to fill so they should have enough cap room to keep him in the fold unless GM Lou Lamoriello decides to shake things up next summer.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • Avalanche forward Evan Rodrigues is officially listed as week to week but is expected to miss two to four weeks due to the lower-body injury sustained on Wednesday against Vancouver, relays Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (Twitter link). The timeline won’t allow Colorado to transfer him onto LTIR to add to their pool unless the team learns that he will be out for the longer end of that timeline.  Rodrigues has been a useful addition this season as he has notched six goals and three assists through his first 18 games while spending some time both on the wing and down the middle.
  • Panthers center Aleksander Barkov is listed as a game-time decision for tonight’s game against St. Louis due to an illness, notes Colby Guy of Florida Hockey Now (Twitter link). Florida remains in a situation where they can only afford to carry the minimum number of players on their roster so if the captain isn’t able to play, they will once again have to dress only 17 skaters tonight.

Metropolitan Notes: Staal, Capitals, Mayfield

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Back in June, Hurricanes center Jordan Staal indicated that he wasn’t interested in pursuing an early extension and that they’d look at his contract after the upcoming season.  However, it appears his stance has changed since then as the 34-year-old told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti that there have been a few discussions about a new deal this summer and expressed his desire to stick around:

I want to be in the Hurricanes organization for as long as I can, and I’m sure whether it’s an extension now or they re-up me at the end of the year or if they’re done with me, it will happen.

Staal is entering his 11th season with Carolina and his fourth as team captain.  He remains one of the stronger defensive middlemen in the league and even as his ice time has dipped a bit lately, he still managed to put up 17 goals and 19 assists last season.  Those numbers won’t be enough to earn him a raise on the $6MM AAV that he currently has but a multi-year agreement at a bit of a lower rate is something that could be hashed out by both sides whether it’s in the coming days or closer to next summer.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • The Capitals are believed to be among the teams that have shown some interest in free agent winger Jake Virtanen, reports 630 CHED’s Bob Stauffer (audio link). The 26-year-old had his contract bought out by Vancouver last summer following accusations of sexual assault.  That went to trial and six weeks ago, he was found not guilty.  Virtanen spent last season in the KHL and has 100 points over 317 career NHL contests.  At this point, it seems likely that he’ll land a PTO or a contract near the league minimum over the coming days.
  • Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield has no lingering issues from the lower-body injury that caused him to miss more than a month at the end of the season, relays Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter link). Accordingly, he’ll be ready to go when training camp gets underway next week.  Mayfield has been an unheralded part of the back end for the Isles for several seasons now and he’ll likely be once again counted on to play upwards of 20 minutes per game.  Notably, the 29-year-old is entering the final season of a contract that has turned out to be a bargain at a $1.45MM AAV.

Scott Mayfield, Cal Clutterbuck Healthy For Training Camp

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Speaking with the media today, New York Islanders rookie head coach Lane Lambert said that defenseman Scott Mayfield and right wing Cal Clutterbuck are healthy and ready for training camp after missing the end of last season with injuries. Lambert mentioned that overall, he doesn’t expect any health-related absences at the beginning of camp.

Mayfield missed the last 21 games of the 2021-22 season with a lower-body injury, last playing in a March 22nd win against the Ottawa Senators. It was his fourth two-point game of the 2021-22 campaign. Clutterbuck, on the other hand, missed the last 23 games, last taking the ice in a March 19th win against Dallas. Both players otherwise remained healthy throughout the entire season, playing in 61 and 59 games respectively.

Both players are expected to reprise their roles as cornerstones at the bottom of the lineup. Mayfield will anchor the third pairing, slotting behind Ryan Pulock and Noah Dobson on the Isles’ depth chart for right-shot defensemen. The veteran defensive stalwart will partner with either the 26-year-old Sebastian Aho or youngster Robin Salo. Clutterbuck, meanwhile, is expected to once again be a part of the longest-running fourth line in the league with Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas. He had six goals, nine assists, and 15 points in 59 games last year, his highest point total in the last three seasons.

The Islanders open their preseason schedule on September 26 against the New York Rangers.

Cal Clutterbuck Out Rest Of Season

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The New York Islanders rewarded Cal Clutterbuck with a recent contract extension, something that certainly came at the right time for the veteran forward. The team announced today that Clutterbuck will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury that will require surgery. Additionally, Scott Mayfield will miss four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.

Clutterbuck, 34, last played on March 19, two days before the trade deadline when he inked a new two-year, $3.5MM extension that keeps him with the Islanders through the 2023-24 season. While his name had surfaced in trade speculation, it seems likely that it was never really in the cards given this injury and the timing of his extension.

Through 59 games this season, Clutterbuck has racked up six goals and 15 points, actually eclipsing the totals from each of the last two years. The last time he posted double-digit goals was 2015-16, and he hasn’t broken 25 points in a single season since he was still with the Minnesota Wild. Despite that lack of offensive output, Clutterbuck has been an important part of the smothering defensive system in New York, racking up almost countless hits in a bottom-six role. This season he sits fourth in the entire league with 229 collisions, trailing only Radko Gudas, Ryan Reaves, and Tanner Jeannot.

Set to turn 35 in November and now coming off shoulder surgery, it’s easy to wonder what kind of impact Clutterbuck can really have moving forward. His $1.75MM cap hit is half of what he’s earned for the last five years, but still seems like a relative overpay, given how uncertain his future contributions are.

Mayfield, who also was included in some pre-deadline speculation, was injured when he blocked a shot on Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators and will now miss a good chunk of what’s left in the regular season. The depth defenseman is already signed through next season and has taken another step forward this season, adding 18 points in 61 games to his already stalwart defensive play. While he’s not a top-pairing option, some believed Mayfield could have been a sought-after addition for contenders at the deadline had he been made available by the Islanders.

With the team sitting 17 points behind the Washington Capitals for the second wild card spot, with the Columbus Blue Jackets in between, it was always going to be an extreme longshot for the Islanders to make a playoff push. Losing two more pieces from their lineup will only make that climb more difficult and could potentially end up giving them some better lottery odds instead.

Zdeno Chara Signs With New York Islanders

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October 10: Per CapFriendly, Chara’s one-year deal carries the league-minimum cap hit of $750,000. The deal contains an additional $750,000 in performance bonuses.

September 18: A future Hall of Famer is heading back to where it all began. As first reported by ESPN’s Kevin Weekes and then confirmed by the team, the New York Islanders have signed veteran defenseman Zdeno Chara to a one-year contract. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

Chara was of course drafted by the Islanders all the way back in 1996. He played his first four pro seasons with the club before being dealt to the Ottawa Senators in 2001 in the infamous Alexei Yashin trade. Since then, Chara has established himself as one of the best defensemen of his generation. A Stanley Cup champion, Norris Trophy winner, seven-time all-league defenseman, the NHL’s active leader in career plus/minus and penalty minutes, and an all-time captain, Chara has accomplished more than anyone could have expected when he last with the Islanders. However, he still wants to add another title to his trophy shelf and feels a return to New York could be the best fit.

The long-time Bruins captain, Chara left Boston after the 2019-20 season as the team was looking to move on with a younger core of defensemen and only offered Chara a depth role. The Washington Capitals took him on as an affordable, one-year rental and he provided solid stay-at-home defense all year. Yes, it was a career-low in ice time and a drop-off in most statistical categories, but at 44 years old that is to be expected. The skating and skill are largely gone from his game, but Chara was still a plus player who contributed physically and was not a liability on the back end. Having see up-close what Chara can do, the Islanders have signed him away from the division rival Capitals and will likely use him in a similar fashion. However, given their far more conservative system than Washington’s and the presence of several other dependable defensive blue liners such as Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield, and fellow veteran Andy Greene, Chara will be under less pressure. This could serve to keep him well-rested and even more effective defensively late in the season and into the playoffs of his 24th NHL campaign.

Chara wanted to stay on the east coast near his family in Boston while still landing with a team that could give him one last shot at the Stanley Cup. It is safe to say that the reigning “East Division” champs have as good a shot as anyone who fits that description. Add in a homecoming to the team who started his illustrious career and the pairing of the Chara and the Islanders seems to be an excellent fit.

Metropolitan Notes: Johnson, Ferland, Boyd, Mayfield

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Ever since the injury to defenseman Justin Schultz, there have been rumors that the Pittsburgh Penguins may have to upgrade their defense if they wanted to make a serious run for a Stanley Cup. Regardless, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford stated that the team has enough depth to fill the hole in their defense from within.

Yet rumors continued, especially after defenseman Jack Johnson was found to be on the ice for five goals against in their 6-5 overtime victory Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers. Again, fans began clamoring to get help to lessen the role of Johnson, after he signed a questionable five-year, $16.25MM deal in the offseason. However, head coach Mike Sullivan was quick to come to Johnson’s defense, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“The reality is when you break down the involvement of those goals, he had no responsibility for any of those goals-against,” Sullivan said of Johnson’s performance against the Oilers. “He just happened to be on the ice for them. We try to look at the game a whole lot closer than the fact that guy is on the ice when a goal is scored because a lot can happen in a team game.”

Rutherford furthered that notion by reiterating that the team intends to stand pat with regards to adding more defense.

“I certainly don’t see us having to go get another defenseman with the group of guys we have,” Rutherford said. “We have guys in Wilkes-Barre who can come in and play on top of who we have here.”

  • While the Carolina Hurricanes made a number of moves this offseason, the team may be most happy with the play of Micheal Ferland, who came over in the trade with the Calgary Flames during the offseason. While the team’s main reason to bringing Ferland in was to add some toughness to a team that lacked it a year ago, the team seems to be getting quite a bit more than that out of him, according to Chip Alexander of the News & Observer. Ferland has found a place on the team’s top line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, and has a team-high six goals, along with 10 points. If Ferland keeps that up, he could break his career-high of 21 goals this season.
  • NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti writes Washington Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said that Travis Boyd will have some tests tomorrow to determine the progress of his injury when he sustained a lower-body injury during training camp and was placed on LTIR. Because he was placed on LTIR, he was forced to miss 10 games, meaning he can be activated now if he’s healthy. “We’ll have him checked out again tomorrow and then see how close he is to being able to play as soon as Thursday,” Reirden said (via NBC Sports J.J. Regan). “But we still need to get some tests done and see exactly where he’s at. He’s been coming along and for the most part seems to be fairly pain-free.” Boyd made eight appearances with the Capitals last year and was battling with Nic Dowd for the fourth-line center position, but lost that job after getting injured.
  • New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said that perhaps the biggest surprise on the roster has been the play of defenseman Scott Mayfield, according to Newsday’s Andrew Gross. The 26-year-old has a goal and five points in seven games this season, but has really impressed the coach with his play even though Trotz admitted that he got off to a slow start at training camp.

New York Islanders Agree To Terms With Thomas Hickey

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The New York Islanders looked like they would be supplying the market with two of the top free agent defensemen, but now one has decided to stay home. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the team has an agreement with Thomas Hickey on a four-year contract worth $10MM.

With Calvin de Haan and Hickey as two of the top blueliners on the free agent market and the Islanders being considered to have one of the weakest defenses in the league, re-signing at least one of their defenseman was crucial. Hickey posted five goals and 25 points in 69 games last season for the Islanders and was relied on more than in previous years as he averaged 18:04 of ATOI. The six-year veteran has played for the Islanders his entire career.

The defensive specialist, who can be prone to making mistakes, will re-join veteran Johnny Boychuk, Nick Leddy, Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock, who many think will be given a much bigger role with the Islanders next season.

 

Scott Mayfield Signs Five-Year Contract Extension

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Scott Mayfield is finally getting a legitimate shot at the NHL, and he’s not willing to wait around for a payday. The New York Islanders defenseman has signed a five-year extension worth just $7.25MM total according to Arthur Staple of Newsday. Mayfield is earning just $675K in the second season of a two-year deal signed in 2016, but will see his average salary jump to $1.45MM for the next half-decade.

Scott MayfieldMayfield has been given extra responsibility recently, as the Islanders deal with injuries to Johnny Boychuk and Calvin de Haan, and has shown he can be an effective two-way option at the highest level. The 25-year old had played just 36 career NHL games coming into this season, but doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere anytime soon. Still with just 65 games played, had Mayfield not suited up for another 15 contests before the end of the year he could have become a Group VI unrestricted free agent. Either way, he was set to hit restricted free agency, but instead of battling it out in an arbitration hearing settled for the long-term certainty of his new extension.

The contract is certainly palatable for the Islanders, who have locked in a useful—if not exceptional—defenseman at a salary that is almost entirely risk-free. Even if his play falters and he’s buried in the minors, Mayfield will incur a very small cap hit. Instead, it seems more likely that this move is planning for a salary structure that includes a massive contract for John Tavares. If the Islanders do indeed sign Tavares long-term, they’ll need to keep costs low at every other opportunity. With Josh Bailey and de Haan also set to hit unrestricted free agency, money will soon be tight for New York.

Mayfield was a second-round selection by the Islanders in 2011, before going to the University of Denver for two seasons. Despite being an excellent one-on-one defender, he was known mostly for his physicality and willingness to drop the gloves to protect a teammate while in junior and college, and carried that feisty style over to the minor leagues when he eventually turned pro. Lately though, Mayfield has began to toe the line instead of jump right over it, and has turned himself into quite the solid defenseman. He’ll never be a real puck-carrying option, but he finds success playing a simple, mistake free game and could continue to blossom into a sort of shutdown option for the Islanders in the future. The fact that he’s added 10 points in 29 games hasn’t been overlooked, and Mayfield has earned himself more than 20 minutes in four of the Islanders’ last seven matches.

He’s not betting on himself with this contract, but it will likely keep Mayfield in the lineup and manning the blueline for the Islanders for some time. For a player who has had to fight to even get onto the ice on a regular basis, the security may be worth it.

Minor Transactions: 1/12/17

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Here is where we’ll keep tabs on today’s comings and goings with the minor leagues:

  • The Islanders announced (Twitter link) that they have recalled defenseman Scott Mayfield from AHL Bridgeport. He will take the place of Travis Hamonic on the active roster, who has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to January 7th.  Mayfield has played in three games with the Isles this season, picking up a goal and two assists.  He has spent the bulk of the season in the minors where he has three tallies and three helpers in 23 contests.
  • Nashville announced the recall of defenseman Alexandre Carrier from Milwaukee of the AHL. Carrier, a fourth round pick of the Predators back in 2015, has had a strong rookie season in the minor leagues, recording 22 points (4-18-22) in 35 games, earning himself a spot in the AHL All-Star Game.
  • With their bye week set to come to an end, the Coyotes announced that they have recalled center Laurent Dauphin and winger Brendan Perlini from their AHL affiliate in Tucson. Dauphin has spent the bulk of the season with Arizona, recording three points in 21 games while producing at a point-per-game clip in 11 minor league contests.  As for Perlini, he has suited up in 15 NHL games, scoring four goals and an assist while adding 19 points (14-5-19) in 17 games with the Roadrunners.
  • After just three games with AHL Hartford, the Rangers have recalled (Twitter link) winger Pavel Buchnevich.  The Russian rookie made an early impact this season, recording four goals and four assists in ten games before back spasms took him out of the lineup for nearly two months.  New York had sent Buchnevich down to get back into game shape and evidently they’re pleased with how performed; he had a goal and an assist in his three minor league contests.
  • Pittsburgh has assigned defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link).  He did not get into any action with the Penguins after being recalled on January 6th.  Ruhwedel has suited up in five NHL games this season, recording a goal and and an assist.
  • The Ducks announced that they have assigned center Chris Wagner to AHL San Diego.  The 25 year old has three goals in 25 games with Anaheim this season and cleared waivers back in mid-November.  Recently, the team had experimented with playing him on the wing; that type of versatility may come in handy as he pushes to be the next player recalled from the Gulls.

Minor Transactions: 12/13/16

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Here are today’s minor roster moves:

  • With Peter Holland and Josh Jooris being added to the roster in recent days, the Coyotes had to make a roster move to get back to 23 players.  They announced that they have assigned center Laurent Dauphin to Tucson of the AHL.  Dauphin has three points (2-1-3) in 20 games with Arizona this season and has a goal in his lone minor league appearance as well.
  • The Canadiens announced that they have assigned right winger Sven Andrighetto and defenseman Mark Barberio to their AHL affiliate in St. John’s. Both players were recalled last week; Andrighetto had a pair of assists in three games after getting called while Barberio was a healthy scratch.  Montreal is now carrying only 18 skaters on their active roster but are off until Friday so they will save a bit of salary cap space with these moves before bringing them or other players back up later in the week.
  • The Wild have recalled right winger Teemu Pulkkinen from AHL Iowa, per a team release. Minnesota claimed him off waivers from Detroit in October but struggled with just one goals in eight games and eventually cleared waivers to be sent to the minors.  He has fared better at the minor league level with 15 points in 15 games and was the AHL’s Player of the Week two weeks ago.
  • Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield has been sent back to Bridgeport of the AHL, the team announced (Twitter link). The 24 year old has made the most of limited ice time with New York, picking up a goal and two assists in just three games while averaging under 12 minutes per game.  He has that same statline in 14 games with the AHL’s Sound Tigers.

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