Calling Out Matt Barzal

[Isles Drive For 5]

Alright, let me get this out of the way. I am only a middle aged fan, and matt barzal has more hockey talent in his pinky than I have in my entire body. But that being said, I am extremely frustrated with his play, attitude, and body language as of late. Some trends as of late that I consistently see in his play:

- Consistently not tracking his man in his own zone
- Consistently being selfish, and trying to force plays by stickhandling through two guys when he has teammates wide open for passes
- Consistently takes selfish, frustration induced penalties
- Consistently over-extending his shifts

I have noticed these issues in his game much more since the all star break. I also felt the same way immediately following last years all star break. It has lead me to believe that matt has an immature mentality, and for the second year in a row, has allowed himself to start thinking he is a big shot from hanging out with all the other all stars during the break.

I believe he is starting to think he is above the team, and system. I can almost see in his body language "my numbers would be better if I was playing in a more offensive system, this style of play sucks, I’m not getting the recognition that other stars in the league are because of it". That is the problem with all star games for immature guys like him, it negatively affects his attitude.

If he is going to be immature and selfish, have a superstar mentality, and never truly buy into the trotz style, then trade him, because he's going to be even more difficult to deal with once he's making marner money next year and starts thinking he can't be yelled at anymore. I don’t want to deal with a pre-madona player, and I’m sure Lou and trotz feel the same way.

I know, many of you may be thinking “Barzal is our 1 elite level talent, you’re crazy”. Well, if Lou showed us anything last year, it is that no one is above the team. Trade him somewhere, get a crapload for him, and while you’re at it, dump nelson, eberle, bailey, and leddy, all of whom I feel have no desperation in their games right now.

Lastly, if there are any Isles PR people that scan through this website (we all know you do), feel feel to direct Matt to this post. Let him know that fans aren’t stupid, they can see what is going on in between his ears right now, and that he needs to cut the immature baby crap, stop sulking when trotz yells at him ot sits him out, and stop thinking he is above the rest of the team. Stop being selfish, be a good teammate, allow yourself to be coached, and be more mature. If you’re not willing to do that, let us know now, and we will ship you out, because you are not so super talented that you are above the culture of the organization.

Thank you.

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[Gurglesons]

Welp. I guess Tavares is gone so why not turn on the next all star center.

 

[Isles Drive For 5]

Welp. I guess Tavares is gone so why not turn on the next all star center.

You think I want to turn on him? I’m just calling it like I see it. Again, clearly our most talented player, but needs to not go the rout of the pre-madona modern day athlete. Be above that is what I’m asking of him. Certainly not to late to get that thought process out of his head, but that attitude adjustment is needed now. Because if it doesn’t happen now, it certainly ain’t going to happen once he’s making 10 mil a season starting next year.

 

[Gurglesons]

You think I want to turn on him? I’m just calling it like I see it. Again, clearly our most talented player, but needs to not go the rout of the pre-madona modern day athlete. Be above that is what I’m asking of him. Certainly not to late to get that thought process out of his head, but that attitude adjustment is needed now. Because if it doesn’t happen now, it certainly ain’t going to happen once he’s making 10 mil a season starting next year.

Barzal’s idol is Crosby and he carries himself in the same light.

Maybe the issue is the same as Tavares. A lack of offensive depth and a system built for 2012 and not 2020.

Also, the Metro is stacked.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

The classic knee jerk. Trade Barzal for What? We have defense, a good young corps. Any move would be lateral and these guys outproducing Barzal by 15-30 points won't be doing that in Trotz system with the talent they'd be playing with.

Barzal has been selfish with the puck, no doubt about it. But this reeks of a scapegoat post when the issue is that our head coach acknowledged we needed to add more offensive firepower last summer and they did not do that. They rested their laurels on MDC being the scorer he was in the OHL and AHL, which will never happen in the NHL.

They are at times dressing Johnston and Martin, redundant. This is going to require patience - Bellows, Wahlstrom and Holmstrom all have the potential to score goals. If we want anything to change it is time to pony up some combination of assets (2020 1st Rounder, 2020 2nd Rounder, Wilde, Mayfield maybe even Wahlstrom) to bring in someone who can snipe.

 

[DerekKingSnipes]

Alright, let me get this out of the way. I am only a middle aged fan, and matt barzal has more hockey talent in his pinky than I have in my entire body. But that being said, I am extremely frustrated with his play, attitude, and body language as of late. Some trends as of late that I consistently see in his play:

- Consistently not tracking his man in his own zone
- Consistently being selfish, and trying to force plays by stickhandling through two guys when he has teammates wide open for passes
- Consistently takes selfish, frustration induced penalties
- Consistently over-extending his shifts

I have noticed these issues in his game much more since the all star break. I also felt the same way immediately following last years all star break. It has lead me to believe that matt has an immature mentality, and for the second year in a row, has allowed himself to start thinking he is a big shot from hanging out with all the other all stars during the break.

I believe he is starting to think he is above the team, and system. I can almost see in his body language "my numbers would be better if I was playing in a more offensive system, this style of play sucks, I’m not getting the recognition that other stars in the league are because of it". That is the problem with all star games for immature guys like him, it negatively affects his attitude.

If he is going to be immature and selfish, have a superstar mentality, and never truly buy into the trotz style, then trade him, because he's going to be even more difficult to deal with once he's making marner money next year and starts thinking he can't be yelled at anymore. I don’t want to deal with a pre-madona player, and I’m sure Lou and trotz feel the same way.

I know, many of you may be thinking “Barzal is our 1 elite level talent, you’re crazy”. Well, if Lou showed us anything last year, it is that no one is above the team. Trade him somewhere, get a crapload for him, and while you’re at it, dump nelson, eberle, bailey, and leddy, all of whom I feel have no desperation in their games right now.

Lastly, if there are any Isles PR people that scan through this website (we all know you do), feel feel to direct Matt to this post. Let him know that fans aren’t stupid, they can see what is going on in between his ears right now, and that he needs to cut the immature baby crap, stop sulking when trotz yells at him ot sits him out, and stop thinking he is above the rest of the team. Stop being selfish, be a good teammate, allow yourself to be coached, and be more mature. If you’re not willing to do that, let us know now, and we will ship you out, because you are not so super talented that you are above the culture of the organization.

Thank you.

What? I mean he has his pout moments but the timing of this post is odd considering I think he has played his best two way games of the season in last two.

 

[Isles Drive For 5]

The classic knee jerk. Trade Barzal for What? We have defense, a good young corps. Any move would be lateral and these guys outproducing Barzal by 15-30 points won't be doing that in Trotz system with the talent they'd be playing with.

Barzal has been selfish with the puck, no doubt about it. But this reeks of a scapegoat post when the issue is that our head coach acknowledged we needed to add more offensive firepower last summer and they did not do that. They rested their laurels on MDC being the scorer he was in the OHL and AHL, which will never happen in the NHL.

They are at times dressing Johnston and Martin, redundant. This is going to require patience - Bellows, Wahlstrom and Holmstrom all have the potential to score goals. If we want anything to change it is time to pony up some combination of assets (2020 1st Rounder, 2020 2nd Rounder, Wilde, Mayfield maybe even Wahlstrom) to bring in someone who can snipe.

Again, I don’t “want” to trade him. That would only be a last resort if he can’t start showing more maturity and have a better attitude.

I do agree, he has minimal offensive help, and that is a huge reason for our troubles.

What I want for Matt to do thoughis not compound these problems by deviating from the system. Keep playing a team game, don’t allow your frustration with the other things to affect your defensive effort, don’t allow it to force you to not pass to teammates wide open and try to deke past 3 guys, and don’t allow it to force you to take undisciplined retaliatory penalties. And most importantly, don’t sulk when trotz “coaches” you hard or takes away your icetime to teach you a lesson. Be a young man, and a leader, and handle it the right way.

Hopefully he can adjust his attitude. If and only if he refuses, and his ego continues to puff up, then yes, Inwould conaider dealing him, because with the culture that lou and trotz want to build, there won’t be any room for a malcontent.

 

[Isles Drive For 5]

What? I mean he has his pout moments but the timing of this post is odd considering I think he has played his best two way games of the season in last two.

Have to disagree, there were a number of times he loat coverage in his own zone where the man with the puck just couldn’t find the man barzal should have been marking . One in particular where the puck was right abut where the goal line meets the boards, and barzal was about 5 feet outside the bear post, and the man that he should have been marking, was a good 8-10 feet separated from him in the slot, had the man with the puck seen him, it would have been a wide open one timer from a prime scoring position. Just because a goal might not have been scored against him tonight, it doesn’t mean he wasn’t out of position a number of times.

Hey, hope I can look back on these posts a few months from now and say how he eliminated these warts in his game, but starting to feel like his newfound “all star mentality” might make it difficult for him to do that.

 

[DerekKingSnipes]

Have to disagree, there were a number of times he loat coverage in his own zone where the man with the puck just couldn’t find the man barzal should have been marking . One in particular where the puck was right abut where the goal line meets the boards, and barzal was about 5 feet outside the bear post, and the man that he should have been marking, was a good 8-10 feet separated from him in the slot, had the man with the puck seen him, it would have been a wide open one timer from a prime scoring position. Just because a goal might not have been scored against him tonight, it doesn’t mean he wasn’t out of position a number of times.

Hey, hope I can look back on these posts a few months from now and say how he eliminated these warts in his game, but starting to feel like his newfound “all star mentality” might make it difficult for him to do that.

I’m just going to trust Trotz handling of him and leave it at that.

 

[WangMustGo]

Lets blame Barzal when we have no offensive depth whatsoever. He makes great passes only for Lee to flub a shot or turn the puck over. Not a single goalscoring winger on the team The forward core as a whole is a train wreck and it certainly doesnt fall on Barzal.

 

[PotvinsCups4]

Alright, let me get this out of the way. I am only a middle aged fan, and matt barzal has more hockey talent in his pinky than I have in my entire body. But that being said, I am extremely frustrated with his play, attitude, and body language as of late. Some trends as of late that I consistently see in his play:
Thank you.

For some reason, Trotz is getting a free pass here. Barzal, AND other players are totally being handcuffed by trotz. Think about it, he has ENCOURAGED them to not shoot, unless a perfect shot. This is stupid in every way. Now either 1. Trotz didn't tell his players this crap in wash, or 2. He did, and they ignored him and won a cup in spite of him. Either way, there is no way in the world that he should be twisting their minds in the offensive zone. Al Arbours system, which was perfect, allowed offensive creativity with the puck, but once they lost it, quick transition. And Al never would tell his team to stop shooting. This is Trotz fault, and the reason why players like Barzal are not happy. Trotz will scare away ANY offensive players with his reputation.

 

[Newsworthy]

Lou is more a problem with this team than Matt Barzal.
Barzal was the best player on the ice last night against Vegas. Get Barzal some true first line talent than see what he can do. Barzal as a second line Center on another team or with other skilled players would light it up.
Guys like Eberle and Lee rarely ever create there own offense and do nothing to complement Barzal.

Who is actually scoring on this team on a regular basis?

 

[PotvinsCups4]

I’m just going to trust Trotz handling of him and leave it at that.

I respect your opinion, but how can you trust a coach who is encouraging his players to only shoot when there is a perfect shot? He has handcuffed them in the offensive zone, THIS is the main reason why they are inept offensively. One of the worst teams I've ever seen offensively in hockey in my 35 years of watching

 

[IslesCLT]

I like my all stars to be more post-Madonna, but that’s just me.

 

[WangMustGo]

I respect your opinion, but how can you trust a coach who is encouraging his players to only shoot when there is a perfect shot? He has handcuffed them in the offensive zone, THIS is the main reason why they are inept offensively. One of the worst teams I've ever seen offensively in hockey in my 35 years of watching

Where exactly are you getting this info that Trotz is only encouraging the players to shoot when theres a perfect shot? Barzal for example seems to be shooting more than he did in the past. This team is not built to crash the net at every opportunity. Outside of Lee all of the wingers are small. Speaking of Lee he has been absolutely horrendous. Our 50 million captain can step it up. That contract is about 2 years away from being Ladd part 2.

 

[DerekKingSnipes]

I respect your opinion, but how can you trust a coach who is encouraging his players to only shoot when there is a perfect shot? He has handcuffed them in the offensive zone, THIS is the main reason why they are inept offensively. One of the worst teams I've ever seen offensively in hockey in my 35 years of watching

For some reason, Trotz is getting a free pass here. Barzal, AND other players are totally being handcuffed by trotz. Think about it, he has ENCOURAGED them to not shoot, unless a perfect shot. This is stupid in every way. Now either 1. Trotz didn't tell his players this crap in wash, or 2. He did, and they ignored him and won a cup in spite of him. Either way, there is no way in the world that he should be twisting their minds in the offensive zone. Al Arbours system, which was perfect, allowed offensive creativity with the puck, but once they lost it, quick transition. And Al never would tell his team to stop shooting. This is Trotz fault, and the reason why players like Barzal are not happy. Trotz will scare away ANY offensive players with his reputation.

Caps never had issue scoring under Trotz because they had good offensive players which this team is still lacking. If Trotz wasn’t the coach of this group they would not be anywhere near a playoff team this year or last year.

 

[Isles Drive For 5]

For some reason, Trotz is getting a free pass here. Barzal, AND other players are totally being handcuffed by trotz. Think about it, he has ENCOURAGED them to not shoot, unless a perfect shot. This is stupid in every way. Now either 1. Trotz didn't tell his players this crap in wash, or 2. He did, and they ignored him and won a cup in spite of him. Either way, there is no way in the world that he should be twisting their minds in the offensive zone. Al Arbours system, which was perfect, allowed offensive creativity with the puck, but once they lost it, quick transition. And Al never would tell his team to stop shooting. This is Trotz fault, and the reason why players like Barzal are not happy. Trotz will scare away ANY offensive players with his reputation.

Feel like trotz is having them play a way that he feels they HAVE to play to be successful. He probably gave his washingron guys more freedom, because they had more talent. He recognizes that we have to play a very regimented style here, becaus we simplu are not talented enough to be able to win any other way. And yes, that may handcuff out offense a bit, but we might have to sacrifice a little offensively in order to be stronger defensively. If we don’t play that way, and try to play more of a run and gun doug weight atyle, well, we saw how that worked out a few years ago. Based upon that, that’s where I want barzal to be mature, and recognize that we NEED to play the way trotz is asking us to play for us to be successful. This is where being unselfish comes into play, especially being willing to sacrifice your numbers for the good of the team. But its even more than numbers. Its also recognizing that due to our style of play (that we have to play for our own good) that sometimes you may get isolated with the puck for a split second, because your teammtes are holding in their own zone longer on our breakout instead if just “flying the zone”, and that when that happens, you need to maintain your discipline, and not try to constantly force things, or get frustrated when things don’t always work out on every offensive opportunity. I just don’t see him maintaining his composure in these situations, instead I see, as you said, frustration with what the coach is asking from him. Its immaturity as far as I’m concerned, and something he needs to get over.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

There is nothing to call out here.

Barzal is a 22 year old, in his 3rd year making $863,333 this year. My expectations are much more reasonable when you have a young player that is not even out of his entry level contract yet.

He's in a tough position as probably the only offensively gifted player on a defence first team, that is crying out for goals.

What I see is someone that cares, cares about the team, his teammates and winning. I see a player that puts the weight of the world on his shoulders for lack of offence this team is going through. This causes players to try too hard, too try to play Superman when infact the best thing to do is use your teammates.

You can criticize Barzal for holding onto the puck at times too much, you can bemoan he doesn't shoot enough. Heck call him out for these things, I have at times. But as a player, to call out his character by calling him selfish? I don't think so. Barking up the wrong tree here.

 

[Skip To My Lou]

Trade him??? I've been a pretty big critic of him this year, as I feel he does try to do wayyyyy too much and ignores the simple play. But we're not trading him.

 

[brachyrynchos]

If Lou was to trade Barzal it would be based on contractual issues and not because of Matt's play.

 

[Uncle Duke]

Feel like trotz is having them play a way that he feels they HAVE to play to be successful. He probably gave his washingron guys more freedom, because they had more talent. He recognizes that we have to play a very regimented style here, becaus we simplu are not talented enough to be able to win any other way. And yes, that may handcuff out offense a bit, but we might have to sacrifice a little offensively in order to be stronger defensively. If we don’t play that way, and try to play more of a run and gun doug weight atyle, well, we saw how that worked out a few years ago. Based upon that, that’s where I want barzal to be mature, and recognize that we NEED to play the way trotz is asking us to play for us to be successful. This is where being unselfish comes into play, especially being willing to sacrifice your numbers for the good of the team. But its even more than numbers. Its also recognizing that due to our style of play (that we have to play for our own good) that sometimes you may get isolated with the puck for a split second, because your teammtes are holding in their own zone longer on our breakout instead if just “flying the zone”, and that when that happens, you need to maintain your discipline, and not try to constantly force things, or get frustrated when things don’t always work out on every offensive opportunity. I just don’t see him maintaining his composure in these situations, instead I see, as you said, frustration with what the coach is asking from him. Its immaturity as far as I’m concerned, and something he needs to get over.

That's the whole thing in a nutshell. Nothing more to be said. We can't win any other way and if we tried, well, Doug Weight.

 

[macleod50]

Ooof.

 

[Uncle Duke]

There is nothing to call out here.

Barzal is a 22 year old, in his 3rd year making $863,333 this year. My expectations are much more reasonable when you have a young player that is not even out of his entry level contract yet.

He's in a tough position as probably the only offensively gifted player on a defence first team, that is crying out for goals.

What I see is someone that cares, cares about the team, his teammates and winning. I see a player that puts the weight of the world on his shoulders for lack of offence this team is going through. This causes players to try too hard, too try to play Superman when infact the best thing to do is use your teammates.

You can criticize Barzal for holding onto the puck at times too much, you can bemoan he doesn't shoot enough. Heck call him out for these things, I have at times. But as a player, to call out his character by calling him selfish? I don't think so. Barking up the wrong tree here.

I think you are generally correct but maybe heaping a bit too much praise to MB. I don't know how much he cares about his teammates or this organization. That isn't a criticism, I just literally don't know. And I don't think any of us really do. We'll find out if he wants to be an Islander in a couple of months. In the meantime, his frustration is palpable and I don't blame him. How many on the tape passes of his did Ebs flub today?

 

[doublechili]

I actually feel bad for the Seattle Kraken being stuck with this stiff.

 

[scottywiper]

I'm more worried about the skipper than Barzal!