Anthony Beauvillier had an excellent start to the playoffs for the New York Islanders and was arguably the team’s best forward for the first couple rounds.
You may be sick of me talking about his playoff performance but as a quick summary: in the qualifying round and first round especially, Beauvillier looked excellent. He was all over the ice, forechecking harder than normal and was also carrying the puck more and creating plays. He looked more engaged than ever and was making an impact just about every time he was on the ice.
Between the qualifying round and the first round, Beauvillier scored six goals and nine points in nine games. In the playoffs as a whole, he also averaged 3.05 shots per game, which was considerably higher than his average of 1.94 shots per game during the regular season. He ended the playoffs with nine goals and 14 points in 22 games, a pace of about 52 points per 82 games.
So what can we expect from him next season?
Well, now that he’s shown he can perform in key situations and we’ve seen how he can take over the game at times when he’s engaged, hopefully we see that play again going forward. The player we saw through the majority of the playoffs is without a doubt a quality top-six forward. He found consistency from game to game early on (despite cooling off a bit later in the postseason) and especially seeing how the second line was clicking, expectations should be a bit higher for Beauvillier next season.
There are several players who I could have done an article like this on, including both of Beauvillier’s linemates. The difference to me was that considering Beauvillier is still just 23 years old, I think he could continue to improve on his game and consistency going forward and has more room to grow, based on his age.
In terms of tangible numbers, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hope we see Beauvillier close to 25 goals and around 55 points next season. He was dominant when engaged and hopefully we see him as involved from game to game next year.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
How many points do you expect from Anthony Beauvillier next season?
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