A next-level Anthony Beauvillier would solve a big problem for the Islanders

As the Islanders forge full steam ahead towards their season opener next week, there continues to be a lot of chatter about what we will see from an offensive standpoint this season. The Isles are basically sticking with the same forward corps they’ve had the past two years.

That group in recent years has been inconsistent at best with scoring goals having been hard to come by. Much of that narrative has been based on them not having a true goal-scoring threat.

Enter Anthony Beauvillier. He could be the answer to that problem if he has a monster season.

Beauvillier, 23, is entering this season with high expectations after he opened a lot of eyes with his sensational run in the postseason last summer where he recorded nine goals and five assists. He’s also coming off a solid 2019-20 regular season where notched 18 goals and 38 points prior to the season being shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think I’m ready to take the next step in my game,” Beauvillier told reporters via Zoom yesterday after he reportedly helped combine for three goals during the team’s first scrimmage of training camp.

Hearing those words should be music to Isles fans’ ears who have concerns about the offense.

Beauvillier has continued to evolve with each passing season, but it’s always been that consistency which has kept him from skyrocketing to that upper echelon. We also know it’s clear that he has an underrated scoring touch.

The last two seasons Beauvillier has totaled 36 goals. Before that in 2017-18, he recorded a career-high 21.

So obviously the potential for 25-30 is there, even in the season only being 56 games this year. And let’s be honest, if the Islanders can’t get that type of production from Anders Lee or Jordan Eberle, they will be in big trouble. They just don’t have the horses in their corps. Hence why Beauvillier turning into their missing sniper would really add a huge boost to the offense.

“I want to be a better player, a more consistent player and want to be a big part of this group, Beauvillier added. “It’s been like that for a couple years now and I just have to do it. It’s a little bit time for me.”

A lot of the Islanders’ success this year will hinge on guys like Beauvillier. He’s without question the club’s third-most important forward behind Mathew Barzal and Nelson and it’s crucial that he turns into that scorning threat he was in the playoffs and was projected to be when the organization drafted him 28th overall in 2015.

It would be huge for Beauvillier and the development of his career. More so, it would provide some huge reassurance for a quality that the Islanders have been lacking for so long.

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The whole Mathew Barzal contract dispute has taken hold of the Islanders as they get set for the season to begin. So many people have chinned in on the situation — which could be solved any day now — but “Spittin Chiclets” Paul Bissonnette’s take might have taken the cake.

Saying the way “Barzal plays isn’t necessarily fun” in the Isles’ system and that’s why he should continue to holdout — its been confirmed it’s not that but just Barzal unsigned — is a doozy.

That system has gotten Barzal to the postseason two years in a row now and within an earshot of playing for the Stanley Cup.

If that’s not fun, then what is?

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Josh Bailey scoring goals will never get old, even in training camp. Neither will his goal song.