Rob Schremp is Right About Islanders' Mathew Barzal

I love when former players share their takes on the game now. Rob Schremp played in the league for six years including two years with the New York Islanders during the 2009-2010 season and 2010-2011 season.

Recently, he spoke about Mathew Barzal and compared him to the likes of Nathan MacKinnon. Fairly high praise for the Islanders forward.

Schremp, who watched early John Tavares very closely, is pointing out what we all know. The Islanders desperately need help for Mathew Barzal. I'm keen on keeping Anders Lee with him but they need another big time threat to play with him.

Kyle Palmieri, Josh Bailey, Zach Parise, etc. isn't going to cut it in order to get the most out of him. With Johnny Gaudreau, Tomas Hertl, and Filip Forsberg becoming free agents at the end of the year it would likely be wise for the Islanders to be in on one of them in order to get the offense to the next level.

Over the last three years, here is how Mat Barzal has ranked with points, points per game pace, and more:

2020: 60 points (19 goals, 41 assists) in 68 games - 72 point pace

2021: 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 55 games - 67 point pace

2022: 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 36 games - 64 point pace

Those are obviously pretty numbers but there's no reason he can't be in the 75+ point range with a true goal scorer next to him. Nathan MacKinnon has Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, Bryaden Point has Nikita Kucherov, Auston Matthews has Mitch Marner, the list goes on and on.

The Isles issues won't be fixed, until they find that guy for Mat Barzal.

32, 20, 23, and 21 in goals over the last four years just isn't going to cut it. Sure, a lefty defenseman would be nice but it isn't as dire of an issue as the winger for Mat Barzal.