NHL EDGE stats for New York Islanders
NHL EDGE stats for New York Islanders
Barzal's speed, high-danger save percentage leaders among highlights
© Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images
As part of NHL.com’s 32 in 32 series, we will identify key EDGE stats for each team to preview the 2024-25 season. Today, we look at the impact of three advanced metrics for the New York Islanders:
1. Forward Mathew Barzal ranked seventh in the NHL in 20-plus mile per hour speed bursts (338) last season. His max skating speed (23.53 mph) was in the League’s 96th percentile.
It was a bounce-back season for Barzal on a line with Bo Horvat, shifting from center to wing full-time and making it a successful first full season in New York for Horvat, a center tied for eighth in the NHL in midrange goals (15). Now entering a full season under coach Patrick Roy with the offseason additions of forwards Anthony Duclair (signed four-year contract July 1) and Maxim Tsyplakov (from Kontinental Hockey League; signed one-year contract May 16), Barzal has a chance to reach new heights (80 points last season; NHL career high is 85 in 2017-18). It’s also worth noting Barzal’s total skating distance (267.51 miles) ranked in the 94th percentile.
CAR@NYI R1, Gm4: Barzal sends a wicked wrister in from deep
2. The Islanders were ninth in the NHL in high-danger shots on goal (687) last season, led by forward Anders Lee, who ranked eighth (115).
Lee has quietly scored at least 20 goals in seven straight full seasons (he scored 12 in 27 games in the 56-game shortened 2020-21 season). Although he was more of a middle-six forward under Roy down the stretch last season, he has bounce-back potential given his past finishing ability (scored 40 goals in 2017-18) and more recently his rank among the heavyweights in Grade-A scoring chances.
3. Goalie Semyon Varlamov ranked third in the NHL in high-danger save percentage (.836) last season. His teammate Ilya Sorokin wasn’t far behind (10th, .825).
It was a surprise turn of events for the Islanders late in the season when Roy played Varlamov, once his No. 1 goalie with the Colorado Avalanche, more than Sorokin, New York’s elite starter. Varlamov was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2013-14, when Roy won the Jack Adams Award, voted as NHL coach of the year, and then thrived last season to help New York qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Whether the timeshare trend continues this season remains to be seen, but the Islanders still have Sorokin in his prime at 29 years old and Varlamov clearly capable of dominant stretches at 36; he was 8-1-1 with a .930 save percentage and one shutout over his final 10 regular-season games.
More: NHL EDGE stats leaders
