Kyle MacLean spent the second half of the season cementing himself as a piece of the future for the Islanders.
The Islanders, in turn, made that official on Wednesday, signing MacLean to a three-year deal to preempt restricted free agency. Salary terms were not immediately available.
The 25-year-old MacLean, an undrafted free agent whose NHL debut came in January, quickly established himself as a hardworking and effective player in the bottom-six for the Islanders, usually centering Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck on the fourth line.
He finished last season with four goals and five assists in 32 games and was one of the Islanders’ best players in their five-game loss to the Hurricanes in the first round of the playoffs.
“The experience I had playing games, it’s always nice to build confidence,” MacLean said on breakup day. “That feeling of being able to play here, that was something I definitely learned about myself and helped me out a lot. With my game, I kinda learned my role pretty well too, pretty clearly, which is good knowledge that I have to use going into next year.”
Pinning down MacLean for the next three seasons gives the Islanders some flexibility down the middle as well, though it’s an open question as to how they’ll use it.
The Islanders’ current shadow roster of 18 players features six different natural centermen out of 11 forwards under contract — MacLean, Bo Horvat, Brock Nelson, Mat Barzal, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Casey Cizikas.
When all six were playing for the Islanders at the end of last season, coach Patrick Roy solved that problem by having Horvat center Barzal and Cizikas, though the Islanders went through a series of different configurations after Roy took over in February.
Since Barzal has played on the wing since Horvat was brought in during the 2022-23 season, it is no issue keeping him there.
Nelson has just a year left on his contract and will be 33 next season, but a bottom-six logjam should not change the calculus as to whether the Islanders keep him.
MacLean’s ability to play a defense-first, puck-hounding role in the bottom-six does, however, appear redundant with Pageau and Cizikas, two vets who are part of the core.
After general manager Lou Lamoriello signaled an openness to change on breakup day, saying, “There’s nothing sacred,” this is the first test of those words.
Gaining the salary-cap flexibility that would come with moving Pageau ($5 million annually) would be a boon to the Islanders, who are relatively strapped for cash ahead of free agency.
Before signing MacLean, they were projected to have just $6.42 million of open cap space, less than all but four teams league-wide.
Pageau, who is coming off a season he called “not good enough” on breakup day in which he accounted for just 33 points, appears to be an obvious candidate for a trade or buyout with two years left on his deal.
“You look back, there’s obviously some stuff I did well but way more stuff I think I could’ve done better,” Pageau said. “I’m still gonna go back and look exactly where I can be better and I’ll work on it this summer.”
The league’s first buyout window opens 48 hours after the Stanley Cup Final ends.
If Pageau is bought out, it would save the Islanders a total of $2.5 million over the next four seasons, but reduce Pageau’s cap hit to $2.75 million for the upcoming season.
Naturally, if the Islanders do look to move Pageau, a trade would be preferable to that outcome — and a prime transaction window is coming up with next week’s draft at the Las Vegas Sphere.
Pageau does, however, hold a 16-team no-trade clause that will add a hurdle to any potential deal.
