Former Islander Cal Clutterbuck retires from the NHL after year away
Cal Clutterbuck of the Islanders skates at UBS Arena on April 17, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Cal Clutterbuck’s last NHL game came on April 30, 2024, when the Hurricanes eliminated the Islanders in Game 5 of their first-round series. The former fourth-line agitator spent this season as a pre- and post-game analyst for the team’s MSG Networks’ broadcasts.
The NHL all-time hits leader, 37, who spent 11 of his 17 NHL seasons with the Islanders, had clearly finished his playing career. But he didn’t make that official until Tuesday.
“I really have no idea how to do this so, that’s it, I’m done,” Clutterbuck said in a video he posted to his Instagram account. “See ya.”
Clutterbuck was an All-Star chirper who first played on the Islanders' "Identity Line" with Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin after being acquired from the Wild for Nino Niederreiter on June 30, 2013. He played in 1,064 regular-season games (718 with the Islanders) and compiled 143 goals, 150 assists and 698 penalty minutes.
He also was credited with 4,029 hits, the most since the NHL began tracking the statistic in 2005.
Martin, with 3,936, is second on the list.
Martin, too, has almost certainly played his last NHL game, though he has yet to announce his formal retirement.
“[Cizikas] and Cal are two guys I spent a lot of time playing with,” Martin said during the Islanders’ breakup day on Saturday. “They called us ‘The Identity Line,’ but those two guys are very much a part of my identity as a person. Two of my closest friends. Two guys that our relationship will go far behind hockey. A lot of special moments with those two.”
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.
