The surprise Saturday morning wasn’t so much that Ben Hutton was making his Islanders debut, with the defenseman’s inclusion in the lineup having been telegraphed since he was signed off his PTO on Thursday.
Rather, it was that Hutton was skating on the left side of Matt Kessel against the Devils and not Scott Mayfield, who was a healthy scratch.
While Mayfield has been fighting what looks more and more like an uphill battle for his spot on the depth chart since training camp, it would be hard to argue he hasn’t outplayed Kessel lately and harder still to argue that his importance to the penalty kill doesn’t justify keeping him in the lineup until Ryan Pulock returns from an upper-body injury.
In the first three games since Pulock’s injury, Mayfield has been the Islanders ice-time leader at 4-on-5, as the penalty kill had gone 10-for-11.
That felt extra prescient as the Islanders skated on the penalty kill four times in a 5-4 overtime defeat, using just three defensemen at 4-on-5 while leaning heavily on Logan Stanley and Adam Pelech — both of whom took penalties themselves.
“He’s a part of [the penalty kill],” coach Pete DeBoer said of Mayfield before the game. “When you make those decisions, guys come out and we’re well aware of some of the strengths of the guys coming out. Also some of the strengths of guys going in. I think if we take five or six penalties tonight we’re in trouble anyway. We gotta stay out of the box.”
Afterward, he praised the job the PK did and said, “All penalty killers get fatigued,” when there are that many opportunities.
Though Mayfield and general manager Mathieu Darche have both dismissed trade rumors surrounding him, this does come against the backdrop of those rumors as well — as well as a looming roster crunch once the Islanders, currently one player short of the roster limit, activate all three of Mathew Barzal, Matias Maccelli and Calum Ritchie.
Barzal and Maccelli were both full participants at Saturday’s optional morning skate and could be back soon, but the Islanders could stave off waiving someone once that happens by moving Ryan Pulock to injured reserve.
Mayfield can’t be traded without his consent, but he could be waived, and the Islanders could wield that weapon to get him to agree to a trade, a move the Rangers controversially employed to get Jacob Trouba to waive his no-trade clause a couple of years ago.
DeBoer did not have an answer following the game on whether Barzal or Maccelli would travel with the team to San Jose on Sunday, saying he needed to meet with the medical staff.
