Cal Clutterbuck was out of Saturday's lineup after sustaining an undisclosed injury Thursday against the Bruins.
Trotz said Clutterbuck was day to day but underlined his importance to the Islanders identity line.
"I think he’s really a security blanket for Casey (Cizikas) and Marty (Matt Martin)," Trotz said of his fourth-liner. "They like to get real physical. It’s not that Cal doesn’t like to get physical, but I think he just compliments that line really well. When they’re really getting on people, I think he’s the guy who's defensively conscious for them and it compliments him because he’s physical, he’s got a good hockey IQ and gets under people’s skin, which, when you get that line doing their sort of role within that line, they’re quite effective.