Can Barzal continue to flourish in Roy's defensive system?

If a new coach is going to have success with his new team, it usually helps when the top players on the team buy in immediately.

We have seen that from New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal since coach Patrick Roy walked into the Northwell Ice Center doors at their practice facility in East Meadow. 

Barzal has always been a player who treats practice like the real deal, very rarely taking a second off while working on his game.

He's also very hard on himself, showcasing frustration when he misses a pass, sends a puck high and wide, or doesn't do a drill to the best of his abilities.

That mindset at practice isn't something that, under Lane Lambert, seemed shared. 

That's not to say that the Islanders weren't trying at practice, but Roy has taken practice time to a whole new meaning.

Given how Roy wants to implement a brand-new system, practice time and morning skates have to be as detail-oriented as possible so that the players don't just learn the inner workings of the structure but master it as fast as possible with the Islanders on the outside looking in. 

"To be quite honest with you. Like there's a lot of new concepts. There's a lot of habits that we have to break," Barzal said. "Just being blunt, a lot of laziness has crept in over the last little while, so he's not here for that, which is perfect for us."

"Just look at our game. Wins and losses are one thing, but then, on a daily basis, we're building a blueprint that is going to allow us to become champions."

Buying into a mindest is critical, and it's what Roy said is the next step for this group. 

But it's also about having the talent. It remains a question mark if the Islanders, as a group, have enough pieces to perfect Roy's aggressive, defensive-minded system.

One area of that system that Roy has preached about is the need for puck possession. 

"We got long-range defensemen that can make it hard on other teams. So gaps are a big thing that he's preached already," Barzal said. "And holding the puck, wanting to tilt the ice.

"So that's music to my ears."

Islanders and turnovers have been a dynamic duo, and it's the main reason why New York didn't put forth a better record to start the Roy experience.

They went 1-2-1, allowing 12 goals, with most of them coming off turnovers, as they really could have gone 4-0-0 if they cut the turnovers down even a little bit.

All four games were one-goal games, with points being thrown away due to underwhelming decisions. 

For Barzal, his ability to possess the puck, especially now as a winger, is why he will likely flourish in this system as compared to Barry Trotz's, a system that had the Islanders going to back-to-back semi-finals in 2020 and 2021.

Trotz's system was a need for New York, as upon his arrival in 2018, the Islanders roster didn't have the potential to rely on offense. 

To Trotz's credit -- which he doesn't get enough credit for -- he got the best out of his defensemen, turning Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock into an elite defense pairing to help lead the way and keep the structure.

Because of the suffocating defensive play, the Islanders didn't generate a whole lot of offensive chances, but they were winning games 2-1 or 3-2 -- low-scoring affairs.

Barzal, being a centerman in that system, played a part in the lack of offensive production, as he was deep in the Islanders' zone and had to begin his breakout 200 feet away.

In 205 games under Trotz, Barzal averaged .79 points per game, with 226 points (69 goals, 157 assists). 

Barzal was only getting off 1.71 shots per game while he turned the puck over 1.08 times per game.

When on the ice, the Islanders owned a Corsi For percentage (CF%, (difference in shot attempts for/against) of 51.55, a Shots For percentage (SF%) of 52.61, a Scoring Chances For percentage (SCF%) of 52.28, and a High-Danger Chance percentage (HDCF%) of 54.76.

Anything over 50 percent is solid when a player is on the ice, but the Islanders most dynamic offensive player had the potential to be making more of a difference on the ice than he was.

Does some of the blame go on Barzal for decision-making?

You bet, but the roster's offensive flaws and Barzal not having support held him back from being a point-per-game plus player in this league. 

That's why when Lane Lambert took over and opened up the system a bit, Barzal was able to be an offensive weapon. 

Before the 2022-23 regular-season-ending lower-body injury last February, Barzal was on pace for 20 goals and 52 assists for 72 points, which would have been his most since his Calder-winning season, where he reached the 85-point mark. 

In Lambert's second season, before he was relieved of his duties on Jan. 20, Barzal had 11 goals and 37 assists in 44 games, an 88-point pace. 

Now, with Roy aboard, the system is reverting to one with that defensive mindset. 

Although the Islanders are still working out the kinks of the new system, learning on the fly, and now having to wait a week with the All-Star break to continue making progress.

Yes, it's a relatively small sample size of just four games, but the early returns are promising for Barzal in this specific system, with a goal and four assists already. 

Over these four games, Barzal has averaged just 0.75 turnovers per game, and although his shots per game are down from what it was under Lambert this season, from 3.09 to 2.5, it's significantly higher than what it was under Trotz (1.08). 

When No. 13 is on the ice, that's where we are seeing things change from the Trotz era. 

The Islanders' CF % with Barzal on the ice is at 64.90, second-best in the NHL over that span, and their SF% is third-best at 63.94. 

New York's SCF % with Barzal on the ice is at 64.29, and while that ranks fourth best in the NHL over the last four games, his linemates Bo Horvat and Anders Lee rank above him, which is a tremendously good sign.

The same can be said for the Islanders' HDCF %, at 70.37, with Barzal out there, which ranks fifth. 

Barzal also ranks second in the NHL in Expected Goals For (4.41) under Roy, with his 1.4 Expected Goals Against ranking fourth, again with Lee and Horvat in front of him.

"I'm very happy with Barzal. I mean, he is one of our better players. My objective is him learning even more than his role, but not just the role of a hockey player but a role as a leader," Roy said. "He needs to be a leader on this team. Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg were not necessarily the most vocal guys on the ice, but they were showing it by example. They will do good things. They will play the right way. And that was the leadership those guys brought, and I mean, the Bourque or the Foote...those guys were the vocal guys, but sometimes you could lead by example, or you could be a phenomenal leader just by the way you're playing the game. 

"That was Sakic's and Forsberg's best thing because they were capable of...you would watch them and the way situations were handled, the way they were coming back, the way they did everything, those details, so if you were playing on the third or fourth line, you'd say, 'Oh my god, I mean, if Peter or Joe does it, maybe I should do it, too'.

Roy continued: So, I think Barzal will understand that better, and I think he'll become a complete player, not just on but also off the ice. I mean, the way he played against Dallas (Roy's first game), it was was fun to watch. The way he played against Montreal was resilient, how he and the team stuck to it. I mean, it's hard when you dig yourself a hole 0-3, but we managed to come back and tie that game. I mean, we should have come back here with a win, and we should have been in front of you saying, you know what? That was a huge win for our team. Unfortunately, it was not, but at the same time, I love his energy and on the ice. I love his speed. I love everything he does. And more importantly, I love the fact that he's willing to listen and become a better version of himself."

The Islanders have a more talented roster under Roy than they ever had under Trotz. But just as Trotz did, it's about Roy getting the most out of the group on the ice, and so far, Barzal has been able to tighten up defensively but, at the same time, allow his offense to continue to thrive, production the Islanders will need if they want to go on a run and make the playoffs. 

You can watch Rosner talk Islanders hockey on Hockey Night in New York with co-host Sean Cuthbert live Sunday nights at 8 PM ET during the season on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter & Facebook.

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