A third-round pick (No. 72) by the Minnesota Wild in the 2006 NHL Draft, Clutterbuck scored 35 goals with Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League in 2005-06 and again in 2006-07 and had more than 100 penalty minutes both seasons.

He turned pro for the 2007-08 season and played mostly with Houston of the American Hockey League. But Clutterbuck played two games for the Wild and made his NHL debut against the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 28, 2007.

Clutterbuck scored his first two NHL goals against the Washington Capitals on Nov. 24, 2008. He finished the 2008-09 season with 356 hits, then the second highest total in NHL history. He played six seasons with the Wild and was credited with 300 or more hits three times and tied for the League lead with four shorthanded goals in 2011-12.

On June 30, 2013, the Wild traded Clutterbuck to the Islanders. He scored 15 goals during the 2015-16 season and helped New York win a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time since 1993. He had 23 points (eight points, 15 assists) in 2018-19, when New York again reached the Eastern Conference Second Round, and played a key role for the Islanders teams that made the third round of the postseason in 2020 and 2021.

Clutterbuck retired from the NHL on April 23, 2025, as the League's all-time hits leader with 4,029. He had 293 points (143 goals, 150 assists) in 1,064 regular-season games and 20 points (12 goals, eight assists) in 81 playoff games over 17 seasons.