At 23-years-old. Kieffer Bellows played the most that he's ever had at the NHL level this season with 43 games played for the New York Islanders. In those games he has 18 points (5 goals, 13 assists). He's been streaky, and right now he's on one of those hot streaks.
He has points in three straight games and five in his last seven games. If you were to pace him out over a full 82 game season, Bellows would be on pace for 34 points getting 11:50 of ice time per night.
What does this mean for Kieffer Bellows going forward with the Islanders? Does it change their plans for him?
Despite the hot streak, I still don't think this changes anything. People want to see the Islanders bring in an upgrade, as do I, and assuming they do I'm not sure where Bellows fits unless some significant pieces are moved out.
For example, just adding one new guy and making no changes to the lineup would look something like:
New guy - Barzal - Parise
Lee - Nelson - Beauvillier
Bailey - Pageau - Palmieri
Martin - Cizikas - Clutterbuck
In this scenario Oliver Wahlstrom and Kieffer Bellows are on the outside looking in. So assume the Islanders trade either Josh Bailey to dump salary or Anthony Beauvillier for a defenseman than one of those two makes it into the lineup and the assumption would have to be Oliver Wahlstrom right?
Kieffer Bellows is an RFA after this year and should sign a cheap bridge deal but I think he will be another candidate for the 13th forward in 2022-2023. The Islanders would need a massive overhaul in order to fit both Wahlstrom and Bellows into the lineup and I'm not sure I see that happening this summer.