With the Islanders season coming to an end last night after a late season collapse, I thought this could be a good time to look back at some of my pre season projections.
First, the forwards:
1) Bo Horvat
Projected: Actual:
33 goals 31 goals
32 assists 26 assists
65 points 57 points
Injuries and disappearing down the stretch will be whats looked back on with Horvat due to the Islanders missing the playoffs unfortunately. Horvat was pretty unbelievable for the Islanders in the first half scoring like crazy with a lot of key goals. Then came the injuries around the holidays which were a big blow. He managed to get healthy enough to compete for Team Canada at the Olympics but after the Olympics his production really took a nose dive for us. If he was a complimentary player they might be able to over come it but Horvat is "The guy" for the Islanders so thats so difficult to overcome as we saw with the Islanders struggles mainly after the Olympic break and thereafter as the season wound down.
2) Mathew Barzal
Projected: Actual:
18 goals 19 goals
42 assists 53 assists
60 points 72 points
This I would say was one of Barzal's top seasons in his career. He was healthy the entire season which had been a struggle for him of late. He did have that one benching by Patrick Roy early in the season but most seemed to agree it did a world of good for him and his numbers backed it up. His production like Horvat did dry up some down the stretch but Barzal was still putting up assists whereas Horvat wasn't doing a lot of anything.
3) Brayden Schenn (Jonathan Drouin)
Projected for Drouin: Actual For Schenn
12 goals 18 goals
33 assists 21 assists
45 points 39 points
Drouin I would call one of the biggest disappointments of the season. He had a promising start but never got into it. He was just never able to put it together even after a tremendous amount of opportunities from Patrick Roy and the coaches. I was happy to see him go at the deadline. However, bringing in Schenn wasn't without criticism which I touched on at the time here. As I said at the time of the deal, Schenn does bring a physical element that we lacked after Martin & Clutterbuck retired but we paid an extremely premium price for him. It seems like DeBoer likes him better at wing then center so it will be interesting to see how he fits him into the lineup for next season.
4) Anders Lee
Projected: Actual
25 goals 19 goals
21 assists 23 assists
46 points 42 points
The captain, in potentially his final season with the Islanders had an up and down season but mostly up for me. He came one short of cracking 20 goals again but had some big goals at crucial times as Horvats production dipped. For me, it is time to move on from Lee as great an Islander as he has been but more on that at a later time.
5) Simon Holmstrom
Projected: Actual
25 goals 19 goals
25 assists 22 assists
50 points 41 points
Holmstrom had a solid season, him & Pageau remained very dynamic on the penalty kill. He showed some slick hands this year at times which I didn't know he had. Hopefully, next season he is able to continue building on that and become a consistent maybe 25 goal guy for the team going forward.
6) JG Pageau
Projected: Actual
13 goals 17 goals
26 assists 18 assists
39 points 35 points
Pageau had one of the top goal scoring years of his career this season. He also continued his prowess on faceoffs and on the penalty kill which led to the Islanders signing him to a 3 year contract extension on deadline day. I was pleased that the AAV wasn't higher with this deal and am excited to see what Pageau brings going forward as the team hopefully transitions some.
7) Casey Cizikas
Projected: Actual:
9 goals 10 goals
11 assists 8 assists
20 points 18 points
No matter his linemates, Cizikas comes to play every night. Never gives less then 100% effort and just been a great Islander for a very long time. Like Lee this season, next season is the final season on Cizikas contract. It will be interesting to see how that is approached, if he wants to continue playing or go into his post hockey career like his former linematers Matt Martin & Cal Clutterbuck.
8) Emil Heineman
Projected: Actual:
14 goals 22 goals
8 assists 9 assists
22 points 31 points
Well, where as Drouin was one of the biggest disappointments, Heineman was definitely one of the most pleasant surprises. Though he did have a cold stretch there for a while, he did show a lot of why Darche loved him and wanted him to be part of the Dobson deal. Mostly his quick extremely impressive wrist shot. Hopefully, he is able to continue to grow and get better. As a team that struggles to score a lot, Heineman could be very valuable going forward.
Then there is Max Shabanov, Anthony Duclair & Max Tsyplakov (Ondrej Palat). Shabanov I am not sure what happened there, if he wasn't given a fair opportunity or if his game didn't translate, I go back and forth with him. Duclair for whatever reason just could never get out of the dog house. Even when he was producing more then say Drouin he still struggled to get into the lineup. Back in January we traded Max Tsyplakov and got back one of Darche's old guys from Tampa in Ondrej Palat. I was critical of the move at the time because of the cap hit we had to take on in Palat and my skepticism was proven correct. After scoring in his first game as an Islander, Palat was kind of useless to be frank for the remainder of the season. I expect at least 2 of these guys will not be back next season and potentially all 3. Shabanov I think they will let walk, Palat should absolutely be bought out, and its been widely reported of their interest in trading Anthony Duclair.
Next time I will look back on the top 6 defensemen as well as the goalies.
