Islanders: Thoughts On Mathew Barzal To Seattle Rumor

In the New York Post’s article titled “Mat Barzal’s future a tricky situation for Islanders,” there’s a very weak take that I have some issue with.

I sat on this one for a couple of days. I didn’t want to react out of pure hatred for a take but after about 48 hours, I still feel the same way about the New York Post’s take on Mathew Barzal’s future with the Islanders.

Mitch and I will surely talk about this ad nauseam on a future podcast but it bothered me enough to the point where I have to throw my two cents in on this take on the blog before we get to Wednesday’s show.

In this article, it goes over the options for Barzal who is an RFA after this season. It states the obvious of a bridge deal or a long term option and then comes the lazy take that will make your skin crawl, a trade.

The take is, Mat Barzal, who grew up over 100 miles from Seattle but played hockey there for four years in the WHL wants desperately to play for the expansion franchise. Not only is this a reach but it makes zero sense to begin with.

Seattle doesn’t come into the league until the 2021 season, so what the heck is Mat Barzal supposed to do for the 2020-2021 season? The Islanders would still have to sign him to either a bridge deal or long-term deal.

Whichever Lou Lamoriello decides to do, why would he then flip his best player to an expansion team? And what are you getting in return? An expansion team has zero assets besides draft capital, hence the reason for the expansion draft!

The Islanders are on pace to finish with over 100 points for the second year in a row, and despite their obvious flaws, they are a team closer to contending than closer to needing a rebuild. Trading a then 24 year old for draft picks is just a wild thought, and frankly a little upsetting.

It’s the same logic that people applied during the John Tavares saga. It’s as if the Islanders don’t deserve to have an elite player on their roster, why would someone want to “toil away” on Long Island is the mindset from the majority of the National Media.

It’s not like the team has the best coach in the league, a new practice facility, and is soon to be moving into a new arena. Oh wait, they have all of those three things and are likely to be making back to back playoff appearances.

It’s just a lazy narrative that because John Tavares wanted to go home now every single Islander is going to want to run off to wherever they were born. Brock Nelson and Anders Lee didn’t skip town for Minessota, Jordan Eberle didn’t run off to Winnipeg or Calgary.

But because of the rarest of instances, an outlier of a free agent in John Tavares, now the Islanders forever will not be able to retain their own free agents, even if they’re restricted and under team control for another three years after the proposed trade idea.

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Please, find a new angle and perhaps put an ounce of effort into writing something before the lazy narratives and takes begin to flow on the page.