New York Islanders Daily: Johnny Boychuk vs Ryan Pulock Comparison

The New York Islanders have two right handed shots in their regular defensive core. Which of the two will have the more productive year?

Ryan Pulock and Johhny Boychuk often draw a comparison because they are both right handed defenseman with a monster of a shot. The New York Islanders are pretty lucky to have both in their lineup.

In a slow August environment, there isn’t much news to report on. So instead we will use this daily update as a comparison of two core defenseman in place of the regular news.

Who will have more points in 2017-2018? Will it be the veteran Johnny Boychuk or the inexperienced, yet promising, Ryan Pulock?

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A huge factor in this will be power play time. If Pulock is on the first power play unit, which he should be, he will put up a significant amount of points. Last year in the AHL he scored 15 goals, five of which came on the power play. For reference, he had 46 points on the season.

Johnny Boychuk’s point total has decreased in each of his first three years with the Islanders. He went from 35 in 2014-2015, to 25 in 2015-2016, and then down to 23 last year. Hopefully, Boychuk remains healthy and his point total creeps back up towards 30.

Predicting points can be tricky, especially for defensemen. Picking Boychuk would be the “safe” play here but I’ll go on the limb and say Pulock. His ceiling is much higher than what Boychuk has put up point wise with the Islanders.

Although Boychuk might be the better defender at this point, Pulock will make up for his initial defensive lapses with his offensive firepower.

The comparison of the two is a fair one, and it’s going to be a lot of fun watching this one play itself out this year.

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