By WAYNE REDSHAW
With the 2023-24 National Hockey League season now in full swing a Welland Minor Hockey Association graduate is zeroing in on a NHL milestone.
Cal Clutterbuck, a right winger with the New York Islanders entered his 17th season in the NHL this past weekend just 18 games shy of playing in his 1,000th regular season game.
Drafted by Minnesota in the third round, 72nd overall in the 2006 NHL entry draft, Clutterbuck spent six seasons with the Wild before he was traded to the New York Islanders in June 2013.
Heading into his 11th season with the Islanders this past weekend against the Buffalo Sabres, Clutterbuck reduced that number to 17 by playing in his 983rd regular season game logging 13 minutes 12 seconds of ice time in 19 shifts. Clutterbuck also had an assist on the game-winning goal by Casey Cizikas.
If Clutterbuck can stay healthy and be injury free he will hit the 1,000 mark November 22nd when the Islanders host the Philadelphia Flyers.
Staying injury free has been a problem for Clutterbuck, especially the past four seasons. Of course he is regarded as a grinder and a warrior as his game is built on physicality. And while he has dished out some stiff checks his body has paid a price too. That has shown up in the games-played column in his statistics, especially the past four seasons. In those seasons Clutterbuck played in 37, 50, 59 and 49 games respectively of the 82-game schedule each season.
Injuries have simply sidelined the Welland native. In 2019 a bad skate cut put him on injured list and in 2021 shoulder surgery curtailed his season. And last year multiple injuries reduced his schedule to 49 games.
Considering Clutterbuck’s style of play and the injuries he has suffered along the way, reaching the 1,000 mark in the NHL is quite an accomplishment.
No other WMHA graduate has ever reached the 1,000 regular season mark. Defenceman Dan Girardi, who entered the NHL undrafted, comes closest but after 13 seasons — 11 with the New York Rangers and two with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Girardi finished with 927 regular season games played. Girardi, you could say, was a warrior too and paid the price by blocking shots. When Girardi announced his retirement in September 2019 he was the NHL’s all-time leader with nearly 2,000 blocked shots. (Note: The NHL did not begin tracking blocked shots until 2005.)
Another WMHA grad up there was Adam Creighton. After 14 seasons in the league, the first-round draft pick by the Buffalo Sabres in 1983 finished with 708 regular season games played.
Then there was another Wellander, Dan Paille. Drafted by Buffalo in the 2002 draft, 20th overall in the first round, he wore three different NHL uniforms — Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers — and played in 582 regular season games. So far Paille holds the distinction of being the first and only Wellander to have his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup. That was back in 2011 when he was a member the Bruins who defeated the Vancouver Canucks in the Cup finals.
Back to Clutterbuck, besides closing in on the 1,000 game mark, he is already the NHL’s all-time leader in hits. He reached that goal last November 21 in Toronto when he was credited with nine hits against the Leafs. That moved him past the retired leader Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings who had 3,632 hits.
Clutterbuck entered this season sitting No. 1 with 3,756 hits. His closest rival who also passed Brown last season is linemate Matt Martin with 3,703. In their season opener Martin narrowed gap by one as he had five hits and Clutterbuck was credited with four.
With the assist Clutterbuck picked up on the game-winner on the weekend, he now sits only 25 points shy of another personal milestone— 300 career regular season points as he has 136 goals and 139 assists for 275 points.
He is also eyeing 500 career blocked shots. He had one over the weekend and now is 36 shy of the 500 mark.
Whatever milestones he accomplishes this season, and hopefully it’s each one, Cal Clutterbuck has already proven himself an accomplished NHLer. And he’s made Wellanders and especially the Welland Minor Hockey Association proud of that fact. Hopefully, he can stay healthy.
(Wayne Redshaw covered the NHL for 40 seasons, was named a Life Member of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association in 1987 and was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame in 2000. Now retired, he can be reached at wredshaw@icloud.com.)
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