With new coach, Barzal now will see how he fits

It is obvious what Mathew Barzal can do each time the puck is on his stick.

The Islanders’ center is a dynamic skater and playmaker. When he won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 2018, he scored more than a point per game. Since then, however, he hasn’t come close to that production.

This past season, in 73 games, Barzal had 59 points (15 goals, 44 assists). That was good, but not good enough. It didn’t help that the Islanders struggled to figure out the best combination of teammates to complement him, shuttling Barzal to the second line toward the end of the season and never finding a replacement for Jordan Eberle, who was left unprotected in the expansion draft.

That puts unlocking Barzal’s potential atop the to-do list for newly installed head coach Lane Lambert.

“He is a key, key, key piece to the puzzle,” Lambert said in his introductory Zoom call on Monday. “And he has grown in so many different areas since his first year that you mentioned. Does his point production — has it been down a little bit? Yes. But there’s other areas of the game that we’ve required and asked him to do and improve upon and it will be a continuous process.”

Barzal’s rookie season, in which he reached a career-high point total, was the only one he played for a coach other than Barry Trotz, whom the Islanders fired on May 9. Trotz had a defense-first system that required players to expand their games to 200 feet and play with structure above all else. That was always a slightly awkward fit for Barzal, who likes to freelance with the puck.

Too often last season, that led to Barzal taking laps around the offensive zone as he waited in vain for something to open up.

Whether that will continue under Lambert — who had the associate head coaching job under Trotz — is an open question. Islanders president Lou Lamoriello has made reference to trying to add a forward this offseason, and it follows that he’d want someone who can play alongside Barzal.

“With guys going down with COVID, guys getting hurt and in and out of the lineup, it can be tough to find that chemistry,” Barzal said when he last spoke to media, on the team’s breakup day. “I pride myself on being a centerman that can play with anyone.”

Barzal, whose contract expires at the end of next season, said that day he wants to spend his career with the Islanders. That desire will come under a spotlight quickly if this offseason passes without an extension.

For now, though, the question is whether Lambert and the Islanders can make it worthwhile for him to re-up. The answer will come down to more than dollar signs.