New York Islanders Brock Nelson 2018-2019 Season Grade

After a putrid 2017-2018 season with the New York Islanders, Brock Nelson responded with the best year of his career under Barry Trotz.

At this time last year, there was no guarantee that Brock Nelson would be a member of the New York Islanders for much longer. He was coming off a pretty rough 35 point season and it looked like John Tavares and Mathew Barzal were the future down the middle.

Well, Tavares bolted out of here and the Islanders, wisely, held onto Brock Nelson and gave him a one-year prove it deal. There was some debate whether or not Nelson would be the second line center going into the season.

Jan Kovar (remember him), was in the mix for a center spot but ultimately didn’t make the club. Whether we liked it or not, Nelson was the best option in the top-six for the Islanders.

Out of the gate, Nelson started hot like he always does. The old joke was calling October, “Brocktober” just because of how productive he was in the month over the course of his career.

Brock had seven points (6 goals, 1 assist) in the team’s 11 games in October. This was not a shock, the shocking part was that his success carried over into November. That month, he had11 points in 13 games.

Brock, for once, never slowed down. Throughout the entire season, Brock stayed consistent never dropping below a half a point per game pace over a month of the season. Ironically, Brock Nelson’s best month was 12 points in February, a time formerly known as hibernation.

He finished the season with a career high of 53 points (25 goals, 28 assists). Nelson eclipsed the 50 point mark for the first time in his career, finally becoming the player that everyone expected him to be.

While most of the Islanders forwards saw their production drop, Brock’s get better. And possibly, the most impressive part of this all is Brock Nelson, yes Brock Nelson, learned to play a defensive style of hockey. He was a great two-way player this year.

The Grade

This is an easy A+. Brock Nelson was better than everybody expected him to be and it even yielded him a long-term deal with the team (six years, $36 million)

Even in the playoffs, he was clutch, putting up four goals in eight games. I never thought I’d be saying this but the Islanders are lucky to have Brock in control over the next six years.