This piece will be another in my series of player profiles, where I’ll give some thoughts on the performance of a member of the New York Islanders this season. This article will focus on Scott Mayfield.
Mayfield continued to grow his role with the Islanders this season, having his ice time at even strength increased by a minute from last season. He was once again an important part of the penalty kill and even with Noah Dobson coming up, it was never Mayfield’s spot in the lineup in question.
He only had 13 points in 68 games but was usually good for being able to make the safe play in his own zone and is effective in net-front battles. He also finished third in on the team in blocked shots– plus, that contract can’t get much better.
I think ideally at some point (likely not next season, but not too far down the road either), Noah Dobson is able to take over a spot in the top-four and Mayfield plays as a shutdown third-pairing defenseman. My reasoning here is that Mayfield is very strong defensively but can’t add a ton of offense. Again, he’s solid as a top-four defenseman right now but if Dobson is able to develop into the player we think he'll be, the Islanders would be able to continue using Mayfield in shutdown situations, while getting offense from Dobson. This would make for an excellent trio on the right-side.
This was another solid year for Mayfield. He’s reliable, efficient in his role and has become a key piece of New York’s defense.
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted on Saturday):
Does Scott Mayfield's contract bring the most value per dollar of any long-term deal on New York's payroll?
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