It’s official, Mat Barzal is staying with the Islanders. The team announced on Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with the 25-year-old forward, keeping him on Long Island for another eight years. According to several reports, the deal has an estimated $9.15 million average payout every year.
What does this mean for the Islanders or for Barzal? It means that a star forward has become a nearly permanent member of the organization he was drafted by.
Barzal is about to enter his sixth full season with the Islanders, only having had one year left of a contract that would have left him a free agent at the end of the 2023 season.
In his time with the Isles, Barzal has been an obvious fan favorite and a guy with so much style on the ice, it makes his job look easy. Winning the Calder Memorial Trophy his rookie year, Mathew Barzal has become an essential member of the Islanders roster.
Though he has had some incredible years, his past season was a bit lackluster. His new contract is looking like an overestimation of his skills at this point. Still, the commitment to such a long-term deal is proof that the Islanders believe Barzal will get back to his elite self and produce impressive results for the organization.
Eight more years of Barzal is a huge deal for the Isles. Signing a name like his to a long-term agreement is bound to do amazing things for the organization and the fans. Barzal has expressed his want to stay in New York, meaning that this deal has been a long time coming, one that Barzal wanted to get done sooner than later, rather than testing free agency.
No matter how you slice it, no matter what Barzal’s season looks like this year, one thing is for certain–Mathew Barzal is staying on the Island.
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