Is It Fair To Say Mathew Barzal Is Overrated?
Mathew Barzal took the league by storm as a rookie scoring 85 points and being the no brainer choice for the Calder Trophy. It was also Barzal’s best season by a mile and weirdly has been on a downward trajectory ever since. It’s now to a point where I’m ready to come out and say it. I think Mathew Barzal is officially overrated and it’s time that we start talking about this more.
Mathew Barzal was on my fantasy team last year after I made a trade with Gavin to acquire him. Turns out I got fleeced because Barzal probably should have been cut from my team that eventually did win the championship. He just didn’t really contribute to it at all. He was that bad. Since that time, I’ve had an ax to grind with the Islanders centermen.
Barzal was not great last year in terms of fantasy creating 45 points in 55 games. We should get better than that from a superstar player, right?
Put fantasy aside for a second. Let’s just state facts. Barzal’s point production has dipped every single season of his career. He’s never been a good faceoff guy as he’s now sitting at 38.9% win rate. Barzal isn’t overly physical and it’s not like he’s creating a ton of turnovers on the defensive end of the ice. The corsi number has dipped to 45.6% this year. Barzal also loves just giving the puck to the other team and has built up this weird habit of trying to find new ways to end up in the penalty box.
Barzal can skate the hell out of the puck but I need more than that. This is supposed to be a superstar we’re talking about, right? Barzal has ONE powerplay goal over the last two years. ONE. Barzal still leads the Islanders in several stats this year, including shot, individual expected goals created, shot attempts, scoring chances. It also doesn’t feel like Barzal is the heartbeat of the team.
What is the Islanders’ identity? It’s that weird fourth line that weirdly gets people going. It’s the Barry Trotz voodoo doll that somehow keeps his defense always intact. It’s the depth pieces like Brock Nelson. Barzal is supposed to be the superstar and we’re now getting to the point where he’s as productive as someone like Bo Horvat. Actually, that may be disrespectful to Horvat who plays better defense and would be embarrassed to sport Barzal’s faceoff percentage.
Listen, I’m not asking for much. Be a point per game player while playing for a team that just went to the Eastern Conference Finals. Shit… how about come close? Right now, this idea that Barzal is a top 50 player in the NHL is almost insane at this point.
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