Ben Shelley: Islanders vs. Panthers: Comparing the forwards

"While the Islanders only have one real star in Mathew Barzal " I love when I read lines like that.. .I guess Lee scoring over 100 goals in the last 3 and 1/2 years is not quite "Star" material. The best way an Islander can get any respect by the rest of the NHL is to get traded..

Florida has a better first line. Isles have a better 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Especially with Casey and Cal back healthy.

"While the Islanders only have one real star in Mathew Barzal " I love when I read lines like that.. .I guess Lee scoring over 100 goals in the last 3 and 1/2 years is not quite "Star" material. The best way an Islander can get any respect by the rest of the NHL is to get traded..

Florida has a better first line. Isles have a better 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Especially with Casey and Cal back healthy.
- niteislander

I respect your opinion but I'm going to disagree on this. Lee is a quality top-six forward but he's not a star the same way Barzal, Barkov, Huberdeau or even Hoffman (over the last two seasons) has been.

Lee would be a great 3 or 4 winger

Fun game... see if you can guess which one of these is Lee, which one is STAR Hoffman and which one is Star Huberdeau >> stats are

Games played, Goals, Assists, Points, =/- PIM and power play goals.


NHL Career 493 172 187 359 -19 177 60

NHL Career 493 172 129 301 19 303 50

NHL Career 536 148 289 437 -6 251 34

I also stand by my point. If Lee was on ANY other team he would be considered a star.

By the way Ben.. thanks for writing this and giving me something to complain about.. lol.

Fun game... see if you can guess which one of these is Lee, which one is STAR Hoffman and which one is Star Huberdeau >> stats are

Games played, Goals, Assists, Points, =/- PIM and power play goals.


NHL Career 493 172 187 359 -19 177 60

NHL Career 493 172 129 301 19 303 50

NHL Career 536 148 289 437 -6 251 34

I also stand by my point. If Lee was on ANY other team he would be considered a star.
- niteislander

Even if we look at career stats, like this displays, the P/82 averages are:

Huberdeau: 67 P/82
Hoffman: 60 P/82
Lee: 50 P/82

So there's already a gap between Huberdeau/Hoffman and Lee, at least in terms of points. If we look at it over the last two seasons:

Huberdeau: 29 G/82, 92 P/82
Hoffman: 35 G/82, 70 P/82
Lee: 26 G/82, 51 P/82


And thank YOU for reading! Not much is going on in the hockey world but I appreciate everyone who continues to read my articles.

I just read the article, and I believe the question you asked is which team has the better forwards. It may make things less complicated to just compare top 3, which Florida has the edge, but they all have to play well for either team to win.

IMO, the Islanders have a fairly large edge when comparing all 4 lines, especially considering how much better they are at 2 way play than the Panthers group. Despite Florida having a better scoring top 3, the Islanders went 3-0 and out scored Florida 8-4 in the regular season.

I respect your opinion but I'm going to disagree on this. Lee is a quality top-six forward but he's not a star the same way Barzal, Barkov, Huberdeau or even Hoffman (over the last two seasons) has been.
- Ben.Shelley

The Panthers' game plan will 100% be to neutralize the Barzal line and force the other lines to beat them. If the top lines neutralize each other out the series will be determined by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines. I think having Nelson and Pageau give the Isles a slight advantage.

Gillian Kemmerer
@gilliankemmerer
CSKA tweeted that Sorokin is in early talks with them (head coach Nikitin had wished Sorokin well in the @NHL in an earlier interview, but that was before the @NHL announced return to play plans that may delay his arrival). An #isles deal is not off the table.

Gillian Kemmerer
@gilliankemmerer
CSKA tweeted that Sorokin is in early talks with them (head coach Nikitin had wished Sorokin well in the @NHL in an earlier interview, but that was before the @NHL announced return to play plans that may delay his arrival). An #isles deal is not off the table.
- eichiefs9

😂😂😂😂

Gillian Kemmerer
@gilliankemmerer
CSKA tweeted that Sorokin is in early talks with them (head coach Nikitin had wished Sorokin well in the @NHL in an earlier interview, but that was before the @NHL announced return to play plans that may delay his arrival). An #isles deal is not off the table.
- eichiefs9