New York Islanders: The best internal options to play alongside Mathew Barzal

Anthony Beauvillier

The second line for the New York Islanders had a phenomenal regular season in 2019-20, performing quite well in the postseason too. And 23-year old Anthony Beauvillier took another big step in his career, learning how to create offense on his own, while also helping out on the defensive side of the puck.

In this shortened year, Beauvillier had 18 goals and a career-high 21 assists. Heading back to the calculator, in a full 82 games, we could have seen him score around 22 goals (which would have been a career-high). He seemed to be clicking with centerman Brock Nelson, who had a strong year of his own, and veteran assist machine Josh Bailey.

With speed, awareness, and strong finishing ability, he could do wonders alongside Barzal. They have had moments to play alongside each other throughout the last couple of years, but Head Coach Barry Trotz had elected to split these two 2015 Draft picks up.

This past season, the advance stats seem to be in favor of putting these pieces back together. Barzal’s Corsi For Percentage (CF%) without Beauvillier was 55.17. But with the French-Canadien, it jumped to over 63 percent, at 63.22. We saw this positive relationship become a trend across the board, even in SCGF%, not something we saw with Lee in that spot.

The problem with Beauvillier is that he is a streaky individual. We have seen it over his four years in the NHL, and it was magnified in this past postseason run. His numbers show nine goals, which was tied for first on the team with Nelson and five assists in 22 Playoff games.

But, if we look at his game breakdown, he was not a factor in 11 of those games, failing to record either a goal or an assist. Against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the team needed him more than ever, but he scored one goal in the six-game series and picked up just one assist. Against the weak Florida Panthers, he was electric. When it came time for the Washinton Capitals series, he was nonexistent until Game 5. Against the Philadelphia Flyers, a series that went the distance to seven games, he recorded two goals and one assist.

The team needs him to be more consistent. No one is asking him to be a point per game player, but when he was not accumulating offensive points, there were times when you forgot he was even playing.

Now could playing alongside Barzal help with this? It sure can. The advanced statistics help his case that he can be more of a weapon for Barzal than Anders Lee. Beauvillier will be an RFA by season’s end, and with the 2021 Expansion Draft approaching, the time is now to see if he will be a perfect fit with Barzal.