I think you saw a glimpse last night of what could be with Barzy to Duclair to Heineman. All three players are really fast & on that one play showed elevated skills. You back them up with Schaffer and now you have speed that can compete with any team in the NHL (speed wise)
Roy isn’t making his decisions based on old tape (regardless of public remarks) if you really listen to his interviews he loves what he is seeing in training camp / practice. When you start talking about 3rd and 4th lines with Zip and Simon you’re talking miss matches to be exploited.
I hate Barzal. He is just a headache. I don't see this amazing UPSIDE other people apparently see.
The dude doesn't like to shoot. He said on a podcast "goalies are too good now" Are you kidding me? What kind of mental m1dget of a pro athlete says that??? Meanwhile, "get the puck on net and good things will happen" is old school wisdom that still rings true today.
Then he holds the puck and stalls our offense and PP. You'd THINK he was this incredible stick handler that could enter the zone like a McDavid and immediately set up our PP, but NOPE!!! BECAUSE NOBODY FEARS HIM!!! They KNOW he will not attack the goalie….bc "they are too good"
I wish he didn't have a no-trade clause. Id move him so fast, get value and be done with him. He seems to care more about golf and billiards than hockey anyway.
It might not be the most logical or valid reason to move Barzal back to center because he played center in the two ECF runs, but I think Roy will quickly put Bo and Barzal back together if need be.
Since Barzal did not play a full season last year we will look at the previous season statistics. Of all NY Islanders forwards to play 70 games or more….Matthew Barzal ranked…SECOND to LAST on the team in shooting percentage. The player to finish last? Pierre Engvall. So your argument is that Mat Barzal would be more effective on the wing than at center…carrying a shooting percentage roughly equivalent to that of Pierre Engvall? Really?
The second they said Barzal would start the season at C I thought – they’re buying time for Ritchie instead of putting him immediately into a higher pressure situation of being a 2C. Couple that with your video on Ritchie centering a new, modern NHL 4th line (no disrespect to Identity line), this is something that’s going to pay off later in the season. Having said that if Barzal is at C for now I really like him playing with speed and skill combo of Duke and Heineman as mentioned above
Talk about burying the lede. Barzal is 65.8 in expected goals for without Bo and Bo is 49.95 in expected goals for without Barzy?!? Sounds like Barzy is carrying Bo who is pretty average without Barzy. Maybe we ought to be thinking about trading Bo before that contract becomes unmovable. And faceoffs are overrated. The Isles were #1 in the entire NHL in faceoffs won and they failed to make the playoffs. Just have JGP come in and take any important faceoff and then have Barzy immediately replace him after the draw.
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I think you saw a glimpse last night of what could be with Barzy to Duclair to Heineman. All three players are really fast & on that one play showed elevated skills. You back them up with Schaffer and now you have speed that can compete with any team in the NHL (speed wise)
Roy isn’t making his decisions based on old tape (regardless of public remarks) if you really listen to his interviews he loves what he is seeing in training camp / practice. When you start talking about 3rd and 4th lines with Zip and Simon you’re talking miss matches to be exploited.
I really like what they are building right now
I hate Barzal. He is just a headache. I don't see this amazing UPSIDE other people apparently see.
The dude doesn't like to shoot. He said on a podcast "goalies are too good now" Are you kidding me? What kind of mental m1dget of a pro athlete says that??? Meanwhile, "get the puck on net and good things will happen" is old school wisdom that still rings true today.
Then he holds the puck and stalls our offense and PP. You'd THINK he was this incredible stick handler that could enter the zone like a McDavid and immediately set up our PP, but NOPE!!! BECAUSE NOBODY FEARS HIM!!! They KNOW he will not attack the goalie….bc "they are too good"
I wish he didn't have a no-trade clause. Id move him so fast, get value and be done with him. He seems to care more about golf and billiards than hockey anyway.
Horvatt is a MUCH better all around player!!
It might not be the most logical or valid reason to move Barzal back to center because he played center in the two ECF runs, but I think Roy will quickly put Bo and Barzal back together if need be.
Since Barzal did not play a full season last year we will look at the previous season statistics. Of all NY Islanders forwards to play 70 games or more….Matthew Barzal ranked…SECOND to LAST on the team in shooting percentage. The player to finish last? Pierre Engvall. So your argument is that Mat Barzal would be more effective on the wing than at center…carrying a shooting percentage roughly equivalent to that of Pierre Engvall? Really?
The second they said Barzal would start the season at C I thought – they’re buying time for Ritchie instead of putting him immediately into a higher pressure situation of being a 2C. Couple that with your video on Ritchie centering a new, modern NHL 4th line (no disrespect to Identity line), this is something that’s going to pay off later in the season. Having said that if Barzal is at C for now I really like him playing with speed and skill combo of Duke and Heineman as mentioned above
Barzal, Horvat, Duclair
Drouin, Lee, Palmieri
Shabanov , Pageau, Holmstrom
Tsyplakov, Cizikas, Gatcomb
That’s the combo I wanna see on offense
Talk about burying the lede. Barzal is 65.8 in expected goals for without Bo and Bo is 49.95 in expected goals for without Barzy?!? Sounds like Barzy is carrying Bo who is pretty average without Barzy. Maybe we ought to be thinking about trading Bo before that contract becomes unmovable. And faceoffs are overrated. The Isles were #1 in the entire NHL in faceoffs won and they failed to make the playoffs. Just have JGP come in and take any important faceoff and then have Barzy immediately replace him after the draw.
"Not stack all his thoroughbreds at the top." And who are the top 6 thoroughbreds?