3 New York Islanders players who surprised us this season

Mathew Barzal turned in his best season since 2017-18

Mathew Barzal has been a good hockey player since his first full-time season in 2017-18, but he hasn’t reached the 80-game threshold since 2018-19. That said, he also never played at or at least near a point-per-game pace since 2017-18, and he rediscovered that in 2023-24. 

Still a rather young player, Barzal has a lot of hockey left on Long Island with quite a few seasons left on his contract. So if he put up 80 points and 23 goals, what does this guy’s ceiling look like if he continues to factor in as a prolific scorer?

But let’s look beyond Barzal’s career-high in goals scored and a resurgent points total, and also check out his career-high average time on ice and whopping 84 takeaways. These show that he was far more durable and scored more while producing even better defensively. Besides his exceptional number of takeaways, Barzal also landed a career-high 54 body checks and had a respectable 52 blocks. 

Right now, it’s more than safe to ask what he has in store for us next season, but not before he does everything in his power to help the Islanders shock the Hurricanes. If he proves to be a major factor in the First Round, Barzal could be a strong Team MVP candidate.