New York Islanders 2018-2019 Season Review Player Grade: Johnny Boychuk

The New York Islanders got a bounce-back season out of Johnny Boychuk. Here’s how his 2018-2019 season graded out.

Expectations were pretty low for Johnny Boychuk heading into this year. He played just 58 games with the New York Islanders last season and at 34 years old there was a pretty good chance this was the new Boychuk.

On the ice, Barry Trotz didn’t ask him to do as much as the Islanders expected from him in the past. He usually could be penciled in for a solid 20 minutes per night, but this year was different, he was getting about two minutes less per game.

Since Boychuk turned 35 midway through the season, the Isles were likely wise to give him a smaller role. He was fantastic in this role with Nick Leddy, defensively he looked like Johnny Boychuk of old and not the 2017-2018 version (the only year he had a plus-minus below zero).

It took Johnny 32 games before he scored his first goal, but it honestly didn’t matter. In years gone by if you said that Boychuk wasn’t giving the Islanders much offensively you might be worried, but this past year it didn’t bother the Islanders.

That wasn’t his role anymore. All he had to do was be a solid defender and whatever he gave the Islanders offensively was a bonus.

This year, it was 19 points (3 goals, 16 assists). While that’s far removed from the 25 points and nine goals you used to be able to pencil him in for this was a much-improved version of Boychuk.

Additionally, during the regular season, he was able to stay relatively healthy. He played 74 regular season games, which was the most he’s played with the Islanders. He’s never played more than 77 in a season.

In the playoffs, Boychuk was a huge part of containing the Penguins offense, helping the Islanders to a four-game sweep. The only issue was that in Game 4, he suffered a season-ending injury.

His presence was certainly missed in the Hurricanes series, Thomas Hickey wasn’t nearly the same impact that Boychuk was to this team.

The Grade

All things considered, Boychuk deserves a good grade for this year. A B+ seems like fair compensation for his season. Johnny Boychuk was just about what you would expect from him at this point in his career.

Now, the concern is what will he be at 35 years old and older. He’s still under contract, an expensive one at that ($6 million AAV) for the next three years.