Lane Lambert is not at all wrong to insist that the lineup issue with which he finds himself dealing is a luxury, nor are players in the room wrong to dismiss it with the wave of a hand because line shuffling is a matter of fact in the NHL.
The makeup of the lines with Cal Clutterbuck back in the mix, though, is a lingering question for the Islanders as they go west for three games, starting Tuesday night against the Kings and continuing through Anaheim and San Jose.
And with Jean-Gabriel Pageau expected to travel, the equation will only get tougher if and when he comes back.
All things considered, this is a good problem for the Islanders (34-26-8) to have, but that does not make it any less of an issue with 14 games left to seal a playoff berth that the season would be an utter failure without.
As things stand — which is to say without Pageau or Mat Barzal — the Islanders do not know who should occupy Barzal’s spot to the right of Bo Horvat, nor how their bottom-six should be constructed, with the roles of Simon Holmstrom, Matt Martin, Hudson Fasching, Pierre Engvall, Josh Bailey and Clutterbuck all in flux as a result.
The Isles started Saturday’s 5-1 loss to Washington with Holmstrom on the top line.
Martin, Cizikas and Fasching stayed together as a third line, while Engvall, Bailey and Clutterbuck were the fourth.
It quickly became clear, though, that the fourth line was more like a trio of players without an obvious spot in the top-nine than a cohesive group whose skillsets complemented each other.
So we got a game in which the Islanders spent the majority trying to figure out what made sense, and didn’t come up with a clear answer.
“I don’t think it had any impact at all,” Martin said. “Guys play with different bodies all the time. And you get out there and do what’s expected of you to the best of your ability every night. I would like to think that as a group, we’re strong-willed enough to not let that kind of stuff affect us.”
It’s true that Lambert has shuffled his lines regularly, and that the Isles have played with each other long enough that anyone can play with anyone.
It’s also true that there isn’t an easy way to square the circle right now, as the Islanders try to figure out which bottom-six forward can be cast on the top line and how to deal with the facts that three different wingers (Martin, Fasching, Clutterbuck) are all at their best playing next to Cizikas) while a fourth (Engvall) has largely underperformed, though he did take a positive step on Saturday.
“Absolutely [his best game since the trade from Toronto.] I thought he looked better, I thought he skated better,” Lambert said of Engvall, who scored the lone Islander goal just over five minutes into the game. “Not just because he scored — obviously that’s a bonus, but I thought he was moving his feet. I thought he was competing.”
Underpinning the current situation is that once Pageau returns — the exact timeline for which is unclear, though the moment is surely getting closer — one of Holmstrom, Martin, Engvall, Bailey or Clutterbuck will need to be a healthy scratch.
It is not at all clear who that will be at first, though it is a relatively sure bet there will be some degree of rotation.
When and if Barzal returns — and the publicly stated expectation is that he will be back for the end of the regular season and any potential playoff games — the Isles will need to sit a second veteran.
How Lambert handles such a situation, particularly if it becomes clear that Bailey and Clutterbuck, two alternate captains and respected veterans, are the odd ones out, will be fascinating to watch.
Full health would of course be a welcome development. These are good problems to have.
But with so few games left and an oh-so-tight playoff race, the luxury of time is not on the Islanders’ side.