Could Barzal actually be dealt?

 Is Barzal getting moved?

In today’s blog post we are going to look at NYI and Matt Barzal as Matt Larkin was looking at some change of scenery candidates recently and mentioned that Barzal may be a guy who needs a change of scenery.

Now Larkin says that he's not fitting overly well with the Islanders as he spent a whole bunch of time this year out due to injuries and even when he was healthy, he didn't play the greatest and Barzal I think on the right team could be a 90 to 100 point player and I feel he can be one of the best talents in the NHL, but it just doesn't seem like he's doing that in the Islanders organization as he's barely gotten close to his rookie point total after his rookie season.

Brad Penner Imagn Images

So I know that there's a new GM in NYI with Darche and you know they still have Horvat, I just don't know if Barzal is going to reach his full potential in the Islanders organization, now he's on a longer term deal and I think he signed for six or seven more years at just over $9 million and I would not be one bit surprised if he stayed in the Islanders organization and they tried to run with him as their topline center, but as I said they do have Bo Horvat and they have a couple of young up and cominging centers in their group.

So there's a very good chance they could go after a guy like Misa or Hagens in this year's draft with the first overall pick, so they have options out there and it’s not guaranteed by any means that Barzal is going to get moved, but Matt Larkin does think there's a possibility he does get moved and he links Vancouver and Calgary as potential landing spots because Barzal is from the West Coast and that may be a little bit of a homecoming for him.

So no guarantees by any means that Barzal gets moved, but Matt Larkin definitely thinks that he is a prime change of scenery candidate and he would not be one bit surprised if we heard Barzal in the rumor mill and potentially even saw a trade in the offseason, so I think it isn’t over likely  Barzal gets moved, but with the way Barzal’s played over the past couple of years there's some potentiality out there I think that we could see a Barzel trade, although I do think it would take a big ask for the acquiring teams so we're going to have to wait and see on what happens with Barzal this offseason.