Scott Mayfield could be on ice for Islanders Tuesday, but it still wouldn't clear up uncertainties of his future

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The will he/won’t he? of whether Scott Mayfield returns to the Islanders’ lineup will be made clear on Tuesday night against the Predators. The will he/won’t he? of whether the veteran defenseman is in the team’s long-term plans will remain unclear in either case.

The 34-year-old Mayfield is in his 13th NHL season, all with the Islanders, and in the fourth season of a seven-year, $24.5 million deal that carries a no-trade clause through the end of this season and then a modified no-trade clause for the final three seasons.

His name has again recently come up in trade speculation based on Mayfield being a healthy scratch in nine of the Islanders’ first 11 games, including Sunday’s defensively-deficient 6-3 loss to the Stars to open this three-game road trip.

“Obviously, I want to be in there, I want to play but none of it (the trade speculation) is out of my mouth,” Mayfield told Newsday after Monday’s practice at Bridgestone Arena in which DeBoer rotated all seven of his defensemen without specifying which six would dress against the Predators.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s out of their mouth either in terms of the front office. That’s part of the business. And maybe there is talk somewhere. Maybe they did talk to someone. I have no idea. I can’t control it. I focus on what I can.”

The short answers on Mayfield are that DeBoer likely prefers more speed in his lineup than Mayfield can provide, especially with veterans Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech and Logan Stanley dressing each game, and that it likely does not make sense for the Islanders to trade him right now.

Defensive depth is always at a premium and Mayfield carries some extra value as a righthanded shot. Unless Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche can get a speedier defenseman in a deal for Mayfield, any trade right now would not bolster the team immediately. And while Mayfield has a relatively reasonable salary-cap hit of $3.5 million for a third-pair defenseman, the remaining terms on the deal may be tough to peddle.

And with defensemen Isaiah George and now Laurel Hollow’s Marshall Warren hurt for the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Hamilton, Ontario, there are no immediate in-house replacements for defensive depth.

A deal much closer to the March 1 trade deadline to a contender seeking a righthanded shot makes much more sense, if it is to happen.

“From my point, I signed a contract to play for the Islanders,” Mayfield said. “I’ve dedicated a lot to this team. I want to see this through. And I want to be in the lineup, obviously. There’s always competitiveness. There’s guys pushing for jobs.”

DeBoer has mostly used free agent signee Matt Kessel, a faster skater than Mayfield though less physical, as the sixth defenseman once Alexander Romanov suffered a second straight season-ending injury, this time to his right knee, three games into the season.

But the Stars exploited the lethargic Islanders repeatedly with odd-man rushes to make DeBoer reconsider his lineup. For one, Semyon Varlamov is expected to make his fourth start in his remarkable comeback from two partial knee replacement surgeries after Ilya Sorokin allowed at least two bad goals to the Stars.

“I didn’t think we were physically invested in that game for whatever reason,” DeBoer said. “I think everything is on the table. It’s the first time we haven’t gotten points in five games so I think we’re going to look at everything lineup-based for [Tuesday].”

Of course, the Islanders’ defensive structure has been the team’s best attribute early in the season.

“I don’t think [Sunday] night, you lose confidence in that,” Pulock told Newsday. “We weren’t as sharp. You’re going to have games like that. There’s no panic that we forgot how to play.”

Mayfield would bring a more physical element to the Islanders’ lineup and perhaps that’s what DeBoer will seek. Either Kessel or Stanley could come out with Mayfield possibly pairing with Matthew Schaefer.

“There’s a pretty good sample size of how I play,” Mayfield said. “I try to play physical, hard in the corners, good in the net front. I know how I need to play. It’s not reinventing the wheel.”

Which, in part, is why DeBoer has gotten away from using Mayfield. He knows exactly what he has in Mayfield and has wanted something else.

“If I was a younger play and not used to this necessarily, haven’t seen a lot of the NHL, I think there would probably be a different situation,” Mayfield said. “I understand the process. I know what I need to do to stay ready. That’s my attitude and my thoughts going into every day.”

And on Tuesday, Mayfield may get to play.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.