New York Islanders Five Most Important Players for 2019-20

Jordan Eberle

By bringing absolutely no-one in during the free agency period or via trade in the offseason, the Islanders clearly believe they can get more offense out of the player they currently have. Players like Jordan Eberle.

Much like Mathew Barzal, Jordan Eberle didn’t have a great season in 2018-19. With 37 points to his name, it was his lowest return ever. Yes, he scored 37 points once before, but that was in the 48 game lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. Over a full 82 game season, that’s a 63 point season.

For the Islanders to have any success this season, they’ll need Jordan Eberle to be a better offensive player then he was last season. Thankfully, the signs that he could were there at the tail end of the 2018-19 season and can be seen again in the preseason.

Over the last seven games of the regular season, Eberle scored five goals and added an assist. Then int he playoff Eberle exploded for nine points in eight games. Including a goal in each of the four games against the Penguins.

Now in the preseason, Eberle is still at it. In four preseason games, Eberle has four goals and three assists. Yes. It’s just the preseason and teams aren’t the same in the preseason as they are in the regular season. But there’s no denying that Eberle looks like a brand new player.

It brings back memories of how impactful the Eberle-Barzal duo was back in 2017-18. When Barzal had his Calder season with 85 points and Eberle scored 25 goals and 59 points on the year. For Eberle, that’s a 22 point jump in his production.

It’s vital that the New York Islanders get that level of production out of Eberle this year.