Islanders' Mathew Barzal to play at World Championship

The New York Islanders don’t have any playoff games to suit up for this year, so one of their young stars will get a chance to represent his country for the first time in a while. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Mathew Barzal will suit up for Team Canada at the upcoming IIHF World Championship, held later this month in Finland.

Barzal, 24, participated in the event in 2018 after his outstanding rookie season and actually had seven assists for Canada in 10 games. Before that, he’d taken up medals at both the U20 and U18 World Juniors, but neither one was gold. Barzal has only reached that level at the Hlinka-Gretzky, quite a few years ago now.

One of the most enigmatic players in the league, there’s no doubt that Barzal’s skill level is among the best in the world, but the results have been middling after that 85-point rookie season, which earned him the Calder Trophy. He hasn’t hit 20 goals in the four years since and had just 59 points in 73 games this season for an Islanders team that struggled right from the beginning of the season.

While he still is an obvious leader on the team, Barzal’s name is starting to come up a bit because of his contract situation. Signed only through next season and a restricted free agent for the final time in the summer of 2023, the Islanders could sign him to a long-term extension as soon as this summer. His performance at these Worlds won’t change things one way or the other, but decision time is coming for Lou Lamoriello and the rest of the front office at some point.

Canada will likely release the full roster in the coming days, as the tournament kicks off just a week from now. The Canadians take on Germany on May 13.