Brock Nelson Embodied the Islanders’ Latest Recent Success

Then, Trotz was hired in the 2018 offseason, and Nelson finally found his groove. He had 25 goals and 28 assists to earn a career-high 53 points, but like the rest of the team, he was playing the full 200-foot game, with Trotz notably fixing the defensive play. The Islanders were playing in meaningful hockey games and making playoff runs. Nelson was making the most of those moments. It all started with the first round matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2019, a series where he scored three goals in the four-game sweep, and he only improved when the stakes were higher.

The Islanders reached the Eastern Conference Final in 2020, and Nelson played a key part in the deep playoff run, scoring nine goals while adding nine assists to the offense. The 2021 run saw him not only score but also put together his best performances in clinching games. He scored two goals in Game 6 in the 5-3 victory over the Penguins, allowing the team to advance to the second round, and in Game 6 against the Boston Bruins, he scored twice in a 6-2 win to send the team to the Semifinal. The Islanders didn’t have a great offense, but when they needed goals, they could rely on their forwards to get the job done, and Nelson was one of the few Trotz would lean on.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs always find a way to make casual fans notice the overlooked stars around the NHL. Islanders fans knew Nelson was a great scorer, but the NHL landscape didn’t know it, at least not yet. His seven goals and five assists in the 2021 run put him on the map.

Nelson Hits His Stride at the Right Time

Usually, players peak when they reach their 30s. At 30 years old, a player’s best hockey is usually behind them, and the decline begins. That’s when Nelson started playing his best hockey. In 2021-22, he scored 37 goals while adding 22 assists, and he was starting to enter his prime as the team around him was starting to exit theirs.

Nelson became a perennial 30-goal scorer as the Islanders were drifting away from the Trotz era and into the Lane Lambert tenure, followed quickly by the Patrick Roy years. They went from a team that was on the cusp of winning the Stanley Cup to barely making the playoffs, and they needed a player they could rely on, and that was Nelson.

The offense wasn’t good in the Trotz years, and it’s remained a weakness since. However, Nelson was a bright spot. Along with scoring 107 goals in the three seasons after turning 30, he made everyone around him better. He would create scoring chances for his linemates and allow skaters with speed to gash defenses on the rush. Likewise, he helped shooters find open looks on the net. He was and still is a team player, and it’s made him part of the fabric of the Islanders.

Why Trading Him Was Tough

There was a world where Nelson looked like he would return in an Islanders jersey and have his name up in the rafters. He’s an Islander through and through, which made an extension a possibility, if not a given. Nelson would take a team-friendly deal and stay on Long Island while breaking many of the franchise records (or at least that’s what many hoped would happen).

Even if Nelson wasn’t traded, and he tested out free agency, Lamoriello could have made it work and kept him on the roster. The salary cap is going up, and Nelson would be one of the core players along with Barzal, Bo Horvat, and Ilya Sorokin. The news earlier in the week that extension talks were close came as no surprise since the team wanted him to stay, and ideally, he wanted to stay.

The problem is that the Islanders needed to move Nelson. They needed a change, and it started with him. The team is slowly declining, and the ceiling keeps lowering. Even worse, the path to contention wasn’t available with a depleted farm system and an aging core. Nelson was the Islanders’ most valuable trade asset, and moving him kickstarted a retool that would happen on the fly.

Nelson was traded to the Colorado Avalanche, and the Islanders received a first-round pick plus Calum Ritchie in the deal. Suddenly, they have a young forward who can be in their lineup by next season and a draft selection that will likely land them another prospect. With Cole Eiserman leading a new wave of prospects, the Islanders can rebuild faster than initially anticipated a few months ago.

Nelson’s Last Hoorah

It felt fitting that Nelson scored a goal and added an assist in his final game as an Islander. He put together one of his best performances of the season on March 4 against the Winnipeg Jets, one of the best teams in the NHL and, ironically, a team he’ll probably be asked to find the back of the net against in the playoffs.

It was a great way to wrap up one of the best tenures in Islanders’ recent memory. To cap off the night, Shannon Hogan interviewed him after the game, and he was noticeably emotional. He knows his value to the fanbase and the franchise, one that drafted and developed him while anticipating he would become a star player. He was more than a star.

Nelson finished his Islanders’ tenure with 295 goals, the fifth-most in team history. His 574 points were eighth on the all-time Islanders rankings. He played over 900 games with the same team, a rarity in a league where players move around and sign with other teams in free agency. In a game that has changed dramatically in recent years, Nelson has remained an old-school player, a simple, low-maintenance one who was easy for any fanbase to embrace.

The team was hoping Nelson would become a star, and he became a franchise icon, one of the few in recent years. While his name isn’t tied to a Stanley Cup title, and he didn’t carry the same weight as Bossy or Potvin, it’s hard to deny his place in the team’s recent success in an era that many younger fans can fondly point to. The fans had to wait a long time before they were successful in the playoffs, but their patience was rewarded, just like the team’s was rewarded with the latest franchise icon becoming a top talent later on in his career.