The New York Islanders have an identity, one they’ve held since their creation. They’re a blue collar team with skaters (and in the case of Billy Smith, goalies) who play a physical, hardworking game. It’s traditional hockey, and with General Manager Lou Lamoriello, tradition is all the rage. Though, with forward Ross Johnston, tradition has left the Islanders in the dust.

Johnston’s style of play is just what fits that Isles attitude. He’s received over 13 times more penalty minutes than points in the NHL.

There is a place in the NHL, and on the Islanders, for this nitty-gritty enforcer work. There’s a reason the Isles specifically have signed a player like Matt Martin to a deal of $1.5 million a year through the 2023-24 season. Players like Martin and Johnston can rough up the other team and create a real spark in a lineup.

The issue for Ross Johnston then, is that Martin is on this team and not going anywhere. Johnston is a redundant use of cap space in a league where monetary wiggle room is hard to come by.

Johnston’s most common use this season has been to fill up a spot in the lineup when a player gets injured or needs to be a healthy scratch to get a jump in their game. Having players like this in your lineup is perfectly okay. That means the team has depth, they’re ready for anything. For the playoffs, depth arguably matters in hockey than any other sport.

The issue, then, is what Ross Johnston brings to the table when he slots into play. Common healthy scratches in the regular season have been Kieffer Bellows and Oliver Wahlstom, both players with a scoring touch. Bellow’s sample size in the NHL is not that large. But, he put up 31 points over 52 games in the 2019-20 AHL season. Wahlstrom has put up 21 points over 44 games in the AHL this year, just shy of .5 PPG.

These players aren’t offensive machines, but the Islanders need to take anything they can get with offensive prowess. This regular season, the Islanders scored on average 2.81 goals per game. Their opponents in the division far exceeded this pace. The Bruins had a GF/G of 3.09, the Capitals’ GF/G is 3.48 and for the Penguins, their GF/G is 3.51.

If the Isles want to consider themselves contenders this year, they can’t always rely on their defense and stellar goaltending. When the game becomes an all-out shootout with players scoring left and right, you need to be able to keep pace.

Gritty forward Ross Johnston doesn’t keep that pace, and that’s okay. His role on the team is not to score goals. He’s supposed to play as an aggressive forward that keeps the opponent physically in check. But, Matt Martin does this same job and does it better. In my honest opinion, there are only two acceptable reasons to slot Johnston into the lineup. First, if Martin is down and the fourth-line has a hole left in it, Johnston being the replacement makes complete sense. The other reason, which is likely to come a couple times a season, is if a team is bullying the Islanders lineup physically.

Johnston plays his role well, but in the modern NHL where scoring is a necessity, don’t expect to win games in the playoffs with him and Martin in the lineup. Let’s hope this theory doesn’t need to be tested.

All statistics accurate as of May 13.

John Smark