{"id":104696,"date":"2025-07-30T11:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T11:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/104696\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T11:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T11:37:09","slug":"ny-islanders-all-star-mathew-barzal-explains-to-fans-why-he-doesnt-shoot-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/104696\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Islanders All-Star Mathew Barzal explains to fans why he doesn’t shoot more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mathew Barzal<\/strong> is one of the NHL\u2019s most creative playmakers\u2014a dynamic skater known more for dazzling setups than pure goal scoring. Despite his elite puck handling and vision, the New York Islanders<\/strong> All-Star has topped 20 goals in a season only twice in his career: 22 in his Calder Trophy-winning 2017\u201318 rookie season and a career-high 23 goals in 2023\u201324. Since then, he\u2019s scored just 14 goals in 58 games in 2022\u201323 and 6 in 30 games during an injury-shortened 2024\u201325.<\/p>\n

This gap between talent and goal totals has raised questions among fans about why Barzal doesn\u2019t shoot more. The answer, according to Barzal himself, comes down to hockey IQ and understanding how elite goalies operate.<\/p>\n

“In practice, you come down with no defenders, no traffic\u2014shoot on Ilya Sorokin or one of these NHL goalies. People think, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s a grade-A chance\u2026\u2019Dude, that shot in practice with no traffic in front goes in maybe two of ten times\u2014maybe.,” Barzal explained on the Fore Play podcast. “Guys go in practice without scoring on some of these goalies, man. You can\u2019t just walk in and shoot and score.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barzal later emphasized that the quality of a shot often depends on deception and movement: \u201cIf I can sell shot and pass, that has a better chance of going in, right?\u201d Barzal isn\u2019t blind to the calls for more shots. \u201cI do think there\u2019s a nice balance. Maybe I can shoot more, but it\u2019s not easy. That\u2019s my game. I love to pass. I love to control the puck. People tell me I should shoot more \u2014 and trust me, I\u2019m looking to shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023\u201324, he registered a career-high 240 shots, finishing with 23 goals and 80 points. But for Barzal, offense has always been about timing, space, and decision-making\u2014not forcing a puck through a 6’6″ goalie without traffic or movement. Over nine seasons, Barzal has posted 134 goals and 328 assists in 530 games\u2014totaling 462 points. His game is built on facilitating others, not chasing individual goal numbers.<\/p>\n

While fans might clamor for him to shoot more, Barzal remains committed to making the right hockey play\u2014even if it means hearing \u201cShoot!\u201d from the stands a few more times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mathew Barzal is one of the NHL\u2019s most creative playmakers\u2014a dynamic skater known more for dazzling setups than…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":104697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-104696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114941987695469687","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}