New York Islanders: Brock Nelson Continues October Success

New York Islanders center Brock Nelson is off to a hot start once again in the month of October. Here’s why it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Brock Nelson must be a fan of Halloween because every year in the month of October, the New York Islanders center starts his season strong. With two goals in today’s 6-1 win over the Flyers, Brock continued his hot start to the season.

In nine games, Brock Nelson has five goals. For the third time in his career, Brock has at least five goals in the month of October.

If you break down his goal total month by month over the course of his career it’s insane to see how well he’s produced in the first month of the season. He now has 22 goals and 43 points in 58 career games in October.

Over the course of an 82 game schedule, his point pace using his career October numbers is 61 points for a season. Yet, Nelson has never even eclipsed the 50 point mark let alone 60 points in a full season.

The issue with Brock Nelson isn’t talent, it’s inconsistency. Every year he comes flying out of the gate putting up points left and right. The perfect example of this was the 2014-2015 season when he had 12 points in the first month to start the year and then finished with 42.

The up and down rollercoaster ride that is Brock Nelson over the course of a full season is a frustrating one. Despite his hot start to the season, this is no reason to be jumping out of your shorts exclaiming that he’s “finally figured it out”.

We’ve played this game before, we all know how this one ends. The only difference this time is that he’s playing for a contract. Brock can test free agency for the first time in his career after the season and if he wants to cash in he’s going to have to produce regularly.

I said it before the season and I’ll say it again, some sucker will give Nelson a long-term deal worth $5 million AAV. I just hope Lou Lamoriello isn’t the one to do it.

Yes, it’s good for the Islanders that he’s producing and I hope he continues to. I just think we should pump the brakes on Nelson and realize what’s really going on here. It’s Brocktober after all.