Islanders Matt Martin Expectations For 2021 Season

The Islanders have decided to bring Matt Martin back for the 2021 season. What can we expect from him this upcoming season?

Matt Martin has been an Islanders fan favorite pretty much since he entered the league back in 2010. After spending his first seven years with the Islanders he left for a big payday from Lou Lamoriello in Toronto.

Halfway through his four-year deal, he fell out of favor in Toronto and the Isles ended up trading for him. Since his return, when healthy, the fourth line that was reunited has been very productive for New York.

Unfortunately, the issue is that Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas, and Cal Clutterbuck were not very healthy in 2020. Martin missed 13 games, putting up eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) in his 55 games played.

2021 Expectations

Last year, Martin’s ice time went from 11:26 down to 10:25. I think a part of the reason for the decline was due to the injuries on the fourth line. When one or multiple of the guys were missing they weren’t nearly effective.

As a result, Martin didn’t get deployed nearly as much as he did in years prior. I think we see that number go up to about 11 minutes in 2021.

Despite playing just 55 games, his hit numbers were still tremendous. He had 242, which paced out over a full season is 361 which is right in the ballpark of what he was doing when he was leading the league in hits every season.

Matt Martin, at this point in his career, doesn’t fight nearly as much as he once did. He had just two during the regular season and five total in the regular season over the past two years. There were five seasons where he was putting up double-digit fights a season.

I’ll say we see him drop the gloves twice in 2021. As far as the production goes for 2021 I think we see Martin play in 50 games and put up eight points (4 goals, 4 assists) with 234 hits. It’s not anything super flashy but that’s what we expect from Martin.

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He’ll throw the body around, play hard, and be a great locker room guy. We still don’t have the AAV on his contract but I don’t anticipate it being very high. Martin for somewhere around league minimum is fine value for his role.