The Islanders’ nominal fourth line was its most consistent the previous two seasons. Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck brought lots of hits and a few clutch goals to the table and those were ingredients that Jack Capuano loved. He kept those three together for two straight seasons while the other three lines went through a blender.
Martin headed off to the Maple Leafs for four years and $10 million on July 1. Early in training camp, Capuano decided he had the ingredients for another superb “fourth” line (the three lines John Tavares doesn’t play on usually get equal even-strength minutes), putting Nikolay Kulemin in Martin’s spot.