Islanders: Best Player To Wear Number 42

Continuing our best of series, today we will look at the best player to wear number 42 for the New York Islanders in their history.

We’ve officially made it into no man’s land. Only six players have worn the number 42 for the New York Islanders. The first to ever do it was Shawn Byram in 1991, then you have Andrei Vasilyev, Dan Plante, Dylan Reese, and Cole Bardreau.

I don’t think any of those guys played enough games with the Islanders to get an honorable mention. Instead, we’ll talk about our winner for today, Scott Mayfield.

You may now know him as the guy who wears 24, but during his first four seasons in the NHL, he wore the number 42 for the Islanders. Mayfield was selected in the second round, 34th overall, in the 2011 NHL Draft.

Three years later, he would make his NHL debut playing five games for the Isles in 2013-2014. He’d go back down for the entire 2014-2015 regular season but the Islanders needed him in the 2015 playoffs.

Due to numerous injuries to the blue line, Mayfield got called up to play in two games in the Capitals series, Games 6 and 7.

The following year, he went back down and spent a majority of the season in the A, putting up 12 points in 54 games with Bridgeport. He’d play six games in the NHL that year but it wasn’t until 2016-2017 that we began to see more of Mayfield.

He would play 25 games for the Isles, averaging 14:08 of ice time per night, and putting up 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists). Mayfield also played 23 games for the Sound Tigers that year splitting his playing time nearly 50/50. The following year was the first time he would spend the entirety of a season in the NHL.

He played in 47 games and had 12 points (2 goals, 10 assists). His ice time went up as he was getting 17:51 on average per night and his play earned a new contract from Garth Snow. In January of 2018, Snow signed Mayfield to a five-year extension worth $7.25 million ($1.45 million AAV).

At first, the deal was a head-scratcher, but now two years later, the Islanders have a top-four d-man locked up at $1.45 million against the cap.

Mayfield switched to number 24 once Lou Lamoriello came in, but the past two years is when he really blossomed. His ice time went up to 18:44 and then to 19:57 this year.

Both he and Devon Toews make up a solid second pair for the New York Islanders. While it took him a little bit to get going in the NHL, Mayfield looks like a gem of a find in the second round by the New York Islanders.