In this article, we’ll take a look at 12 Islanders forwards and compare how they’re producing this season compared to how they've produced throughout the rest of their career. It will be evaluated on points per 82 games average each season. Not included are Michael Dal Colle, Tanner Fritz, Ross Johnston and Tom Kuhnhackl.
*Note: If a player played minimal games in an early season of their career, that year won’t be included in the chart. The charts will include PP82 and each season of a player’s career.*
Josh Bailey- Producing as Expected
Bailey has experienced a dip for his monstrous season last year where he averaged over 76 points per 82 games. He’s on pace to average around 55 points, similar stats to what were seen in his 2016-17 season. It’s important to note that with Bailey, for his first eight seasons, he averaged between 30 and 41 PP82 in seven of them and didn’t average 50 points once. In the past three years, Bailey has propelled himself to being a consistent producer and key contributor for the Islanders. His career PP82 average is 44.4, so to see him still a ways up from that means Bailey is once again having a good year.
Mathew Barzal- Slightly Underperforming
There can’t be a lot of comparison done for Barzal. He’s in his second full season. He’s experienced a pretty significant dip in production, down from his 85 PP82 season last year to averaging 64.3 PP82 this season. Again though, these are still excellent numbers from Barzal. He leads the team in points and his average season to season production will be assessed in the years to come.
Anthony Beauvillier: Underperforming
Beauvillier has been disappointing this year. After starting his career with a 29.8 PP82 average in his first year, he jumped to 41.6 PP82 in his first year and he looked to be moving towards becoming a regular contributor. This season, he’s not even hitting the first PP82 of his first year, averaging only 27 PP82. With Beauvillier in need of a new contract, look for a bridge deal to be signed to set up a few more seasons to really evaluate what his ceiling is going to be.
Casey Cizikas: Overperforming
Cizikas is experiencing his most productive season ever. From 2013-14 to 2016-17, he slowly but steadily upped his production, before it fell hard last season. But he’s hovering around 35 PP82 or above for two of the last three seasons and if he can keep up that production.
Cal Clutterbuck: Slightly Overperforming
Really since Clutterbuck entered the league, he’s been producing at a consistent pace from year-to-year. His 26.5 PP82 pace this year is his highest since 2011-12, however he put up very similar numbers in 2015-16 an 2016-17. He’s not on the team to score but he’s having his best year production-wise in a while.
Jordan Eberle- Majorly Underperforming
Every year we see players decline. In fact, for four straight years, Jordan Eberle’s production steadily declined from 66.6 PP82 all the way down to 51.0 PP82, before seeing a bit of a resurgence last season. But this season, Eberle’s numbers have fallen off of a cliff. He’s averaging 36.3 PP82, almost 15 less PP82 than he’s ever averaged in a season. He’s still miles away from his career PP82 of 58.8 and going into a contract year, Eberle may not get to be very picky in free agency.
Valtteri Filppula- Producing as Expected
Now 35 years old, you can’t really complain about Valtteri Filppula. He’s played in 71 games this year and has scored more goals this season than any of his past four. He hit a decline like anyone would as he entered his 30s but has actually been very consistent over his last four years, averaging about 33.5 PP82 in all of them, except 2016-17 where he averaged 43.6 PP82. Sure, he’s down from his career 42.6 PP82 mark, but he hasn’t declined in the past four years and on a one-year deal, he’s a pretty nice addition.
Leo Komarov- Slightly Underperforming
He’s not a guy you rely on to produce. That being said, he really hasn’t produced in his last two seasons. Between 2014-15 and 2016-17, he averaged 36.5 PP82 across the three seasons. He’s now slipped to averaging just 24.4 PP82 this season, after producing 21.1 PP82 last year. Three more years of Leo isn’t looking great. At least his production is (slightly) up from last year?
Andrew Ladd- Performing As Expected
This was just a bad signing and signs pointed to it. Ladd was turning 31 in the first season of his contract and the year before signing, he had seen his PP82 dip all the way down to 48.2, his lowest total since 2009-10. But since coming to New York, Ladd has seen a different level of decline. He’s been averaging between 30 and 35 PP82 in each season (despite missing most of this season) and judging on his decline that started before signing, things could only get worse with Ladd in the next four years of his contract. Should he at least maintain around 35 PP82 for the next few seasons, it’s better than declining and he’s been producing at a consistent pace across the last few seasons. It’s just not a great pace.
Anders Lee- Performing as Expected
Like Bailey, in the last three seasons Lee has established himself as a regular 50 PP82 player. He also had a career high PP82 last year where he hit 62.0 and this year, at 52.1 PP82, he’s still hovering above his 49.9 career PP82. Overall, Lee has been steady this season compared to his career.
Matt Martin- Performing as Expected
Similar to Clutterbuck and Komarov- Martin isn’t on the team to put up points. He can be expected on for somewhere between 14 and 20 PP82 each year and that’s exactly his pace right now.
Brock Nelson- Overperforming
Nelson has always been consistent but this year he’s already hit a career high on points, sitting at 52.1 PP82. It raises the question as to whether Nelson can produce higher than his pretty consistent average of 40 PP82 seasons. Regardless, Nelson is having a great year and has improved upon his career average of 40.8 PP82.
*All charts powered by Piktochart*
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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