Islanders: Anthony Beauvillier Doesn’t Deserve Top Line Chance

We’re now five seasons into the Anthony Beauvillier experience and I still have no idea what he is. Streaky wouldn’t even begin to describe Beau’s career thus far in the league. At times, he looks like he’s a legit budding top-six winger for the Islanders.

For example, the second half of 2017-2018. In Beau’s final 39 games of that season, he scored 16 goals and had 28 points. Paced out over a full season, that would put him at 34 goals and 59 points.

The same could be said about his performance in the playoffs just last year. He had 14 points (9 goals, 5 assists) in the Isles 22 playoff games. Was the breakout finally coming for Anthony Beauvillier?

Well, so far in 22 games, the same number from the playoffs, he has just six points (2 goals, 4 assists). What happened?

Unfortunately, that’s been Anthony Beauvillier his entire pro career. He goes through these stretches where you think that he’s a legit threat on that second line but then he can go on these runs where he looks completely lost.

The weird part? These runs can be flipped like a light switch and usually, they aren’t prolonged. Like, multiple times a season he can make that switch. It’s truly baffling.

Anyway, looking for a spark last night, Barry Trotz switched up the lines. He put Michael Dal Colle up on the second line, which actually yielded a goal for him his first of the season, and he put Bellows – Pageau – Wahlstrom together.

In a vacuum, I love that third line and would like to see more of that unit. What I can’t get behind is moving Beau up. Why is he deserving of it?

Everyone online likes to get on Josh Bailey, who is struggling to an extent this year, but it’s not nearly as bad as what Anthony Beauvillier has done this year. Bailey, who some have asked to be healthy scratched, has 16 points (3 goals, 13 assists) over 31 games.

Paced out over 82 games, that would put him at 42 points (8 goals, 34 assists). You’d like that number to be above 50 but it isn’t awful, it’s just okay. As for Beau, he’s on pace for 23 points on a full season. It’s that bad.

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Sure, you can get your Bailey jokes off on Twitter.com for your 100 followers, but is he as bad as the anti-bailey folks have made him out to be this year? Nope, in fact, some of that (not all, but some) frustration should be given to Anthony Beauvillier who has been a much bigger issue in the top-six this year.