Examining What the Islanders May Offer Anthony Beauvillier in a New Deal

It’s quite clear that Lou Lamoriello’s first priority this offseason is for the New York Islanders to lock up the restricted free agents that have been crucial to the team’s success. Adam Pelech is viewed as the first domino that will fall for the Islanders and will set the pace for what comes after during the offseason.

That leaves Anthony Beauvillier and Ilya Sorokin as the two other crucial RFAs Lamoriello has to sign to new contracts. Both will require salary increases, but when it comes to Beauvillier the cost is a bit of a mystery. He has in fact become a core part of an Islanders team that has gone to the Semifinals in back-to-back years, but his inconsistent play makes it hard to gauge what his fair value is.

Perhaps the easiest way to describe Beauvillier’s game is streaky. His success comes in ebbs and flows and when he is playing well he is a major asset to the Islanders. The flip side of that is when he goes long stretches without finding the back of the net.

The perfect example of that was this season. Anthony Beauvillier finished the abbreviated 56 game season with 15 goals and 13 assists for 28 points. Of the 56 games, Beauvillier appeared in 47.

Through the first 22 games of the year, Anthony Beauvillier scored just two goals and had six points. Far from what the Islanders needed from a top-six forward. However, Beauvillier found his game in the second half of the season, scoring 13 goals and putting up 22 points in the final 25 games he played in.

In the Playoffs, Anthony Beauvillier added five goals and 13 points and scored one of the most memorable goals in recent franchise history to force Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the semifinals. Still, he did go 10 games during the playoffs without a goal until the heroic effort in the sixth game against Tampa Bay.

When it comes to finding a comparable deal, you only have to look down the New Jersey Turnpike towards Philadelphia and the deal that they handed Scott Laughton earlier this year. Laughton was inked to a five-year, $15 million contract extension, which comes out to an AAV of $3 million.

Even with Beauvillier’s streakiness, he has produced better numbers for the Isles than Laughton did with Philly. That would likely mean the 24-year-old Beauvillier is looking at a new deal with an AAV of somewhere in the range of $4.5 million. And the length of the contract somewhere in a similar time frame as Laughton’s deal.

Things could change quickly if the Islanders decide to pursue Vladimir Tarasenko, but following Lamoriello’s current plan to lock up his RFAs, a deal for four to five years worth around $4.5 million would make the most sense and be fair for Beauvillier.