New York Islanders: Top 3 Surprises So Far In 2019

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 06: Anthony Beauvillier #18 of the New York Islanders celebrates his goal at 1:25 of the third period against the Winnipeg Jets at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum on October 06, 2019 in New York City. The Islanders defeated the Jets 4-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Anthony Beauvillier

Through eight games this season, Anthony Beauvillier has six points. Since the puck dropped at the start of the season, just three weeks ago, Anthony Beauvillier has been one of the Islanders better players.

Look, just last season Anthony Beauvillier had a single point through his first eight games. In fact, through his first 16 games, Anthony Beauvillier only had a single point. It took Anthony Beauvillier 18 games to hit six points last season.

It’s been a wildly different Anthony Beauvillier this season than the one the Islanders had last year. One that Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz must be completely in love with.

After the disappointment of missing out on Artemi Panarinin the offseason, the Islanders strategy shifted from landing a top-six point-per-game winger to let’s hope the guys we got have better years. Primary to that strategy was Anthony Beauvillier.

Beauvillier was after all a former first-round pick back in 2015. He also made the NHL just a year after he was drafted by the Islanders. Beau is without a doubt a talented player. But he hasn’t been able to show that talent over a consistent period.

We saw that talent materialize in the second half of 2017-18 when in 40 games, Beauvillier scored 28 points. That’s a pace of 57.4 points of the course of a full season. Unfortunately, in the first half of that season, Beauvillier only scored eight points. That production got him sent down to the AHL.

With his six points in eight games now, Beau is repeating that form from the second half of the 2017-18 season with a pace of 61.5 points. Hopefully, that keeps up through the rest of the season. But so far it’s a great surprise.