Casey Cizikas has spent his Islanders career wearing the fourth-line label without much fuss. Now, entering his 16th NHL season and what could be his final year in New York, the way he’s being used looks a little different.
This isn’t the old-school version of a fourth line, where the assignment is simple: chip pucks, throw hits, survive the shift and get off the ice. Pete DeBoer is asking for more than that. He wants scoring from every group, and he’s made it clear that the trio with Cizikas isn’t being treated like a low-minute checking unit.
“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.”
That thinking showed up on the ice Friday. Cizikas and Palat were skating with newcomer Matias Maccelli, who was signed as a free agent for his offensive upside.
That combination should be together for Saturday night’s home opener against the Devils at UBS Arena. It’s a change from Wednesday night in Toronto, when speedy Anthony Duclair started the Islanders’ 2-1 season-opening loss on that line before Maccelli replaced him.
Kyle MacLean, meanwhile, is the odd man out for now. The prototypical fourth-liner is set to remain a healthy scratch.
Cizikas understands the assignment, even if the role around him keeps changing.
“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.”
That’s the balance here: Cizikas still brings the familiar pressure, but the players around him are being chosen with offense in mind. Palat and Maccelli have to fit into his style, sure, but Cizikas also has to fit into DeBoer’s version of the line.
And there’s another layer to all of this. Cizikas is on an expiring six-year, $15 million contract, and he’ll be 36 by next offseason. He doesn’t have a no-trade or no-movement clause, which means he could be dealt as a 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.”
For now, DeBoer is counting on Cizikas and whoever skates beside him to do more than just hold their own. He needs that line to produce.
In Other News...
Islanders Offense Already Feels The Wait For Mathew Barzal
The Islanders opened the season with a loss, and the early absence of Mathew Barzal is already hanging over the lineup. Barzal is dealing with knee inflammation, and while the team has been encouraged by his progress, the offense has not looked especially comfortable without one of its most dynamic playmakers in place.
Anthony Duclair gave the Islanders a brighter note in the opener with a promising showing, and that at least hints at another layer of scoring support once Barzal is back in the mix. For now, though, the bigger question is how long New York has to keep patching together its attack before its top creative engine can rejoin the group. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Get An Important Kuzmenko Step At A Crucial Time
Victor Eklund is getting a longer look in the Islanders top six, a sign of trust for the 19-year-old forward after opening the season in a more limited role. For a young player still carving out his place, moving up the lineup can change the tone of an early-season stretch quickly, especially when the coaching staff starts pairing him with more established talent and asking him to handle a bigger share of the load.
The timing matters for New York because the forward group is still being sorted out, and every shift in usage can ripple through the rest of the lineup. Eklunds rise is one of the more encouraging developments around the club right now, even as the broader division picture keeps shifting and rivals continue to manage their own roster and injury situations. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Face A Tough Darche Test Fans Can Already Feel
Mathieu Darche has made it clear he wants to chase meaningful upgrades for the Islanders, but he also has no interest in gutting the very system he is trying to build. That puts the general manager in a familiar spot for a team still trying to balance a push for help now with the need to protect its future, especially when the roster does not feature an excess of young, inexpensive NHL pieces that can headline trade talks.
So any move the Islanders make has to thread a narrow needle: aggressive enough to improve the team, but careful enough not to drain the prospect pool or future flexibility. Darches stance points to a patient approach, one that values organizational health as much as short-term impact, and it leaves the club facing a difficult market where the best targets usually come with the steepest prices. [Read more 🡒]