Big Season in Store for Nelson and Beauvillier

Last season was a transformative one for both Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier.
Despite the success the duo reached during the regular season and furthermore, as the leading goal scorers for the Islanders during their Eastern Conference Final run, it isn't the endgame for either one of them, nor is it perceived that way for Head Coach Barry Trotz.

Following career-high regular seasons and blazing performances during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Nelson and Beauvillier are determined to continue their trajectories and further solidify their roles as consistent offensive presences within the Islanders lineup.
"With team success, you'll get individual success," Nelson said via Zoom on Sunday's Media Day. "I think everybody will tell you the same thing, that they're trying to evolve as a player and trying to help the team win in any way. Coming into this season, everyone is excited and wants to build off where they left off. A lot of guys had unbelievable runs and are big parts of why we made it as far as we did. Everybody is looking at that and wanting to take that next step."

Trotz worked closely with Nelson and Beauvillier, individually, throughout the year to establish a level of trust and responsibility in each of their designated roles. He motivated them to execute at their best through developing a mindset that was focused on the process of playing a responsible game opposed to one that weighed heavily on the outcome of the score sheet.
"At the end of the day, everyone likes to get points," Trotz said on Monday afternoon via Zoom. "That's part of being an athlete is having success individually. The endgame is to win hockey games and [Nelson and Beauvillier] understand that. When that becomes clear for them and they're comfortable with that then, they're just going to have success outplaying the opposition and not worrying about outsourcing the opposition. If you just outplay the opposition, you're going to end up winning most times and you're going to have success individually."
In Nelson's case, Trotz had flagged No. 29 on his radar long before he ever became the Islanders' bench boss. Upon his arrival in 2018, some of his earliest discussions with Nelson were regarding the larger role he envisioned for the skilled center.
Nelson has since evolved into such.
"I always saw him as a different player," Trotz explained. "When you're on the other bench and you see a player that catches your eye, you wonder why he's not in a bigger role. We have a saying, you don't know until you own it. Once we got here, we realized Brock's skillset was way better than I thought it was, his hockey IQ was way better than I thought it was."
Since Trotz took over, Nelson's production has steadily increased and he's put his foot in the door of becoming a 30-goal scorer. Last season, Nelson led the Islanders with 26 goals 68 games before the season came to a halt.
Nelson delivered in clutch moments and broadened his responsibilities. His 10 points (4G, 6A) through the first month of play elated fans into continuing to praise his annual early success as 'Brocktober.' The left-shot became crucial for the Islanders inside the faceoff circle, where he took the 15th-most draws (1,188) across the league during the regular season and earned a FOW% of 51.8%.

Nelson and Beauvillier, along with Nick Leddy, were regularly first over the boards first during the Islanders' 21 overtime regular season games. Nelson's three overtime goals were the most among the squad.
Prior to the NHL's pause issued on March 12 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Nelson was on-pace to set a new career best in goals, though he still tied his previous career-high with 26. The 29-year-old established a career-high with his 54 points through 68 games. And during the Islanders first trip to the Eastern Conference Finals since 1993, the Warroad, Minnesota native ranked second behind linemate Josh Bailey in scoring with 18 points through 22 games. His nine goals were tied with Beavuillier for the most during the Islanders 2020 postseason run.
"Just getting him in a position where he had the trust from myself, my staff," Trotz said. "I think he's always had [trust] from his teammates, but there's a swagger or a confidence that everybody has in their growth plan as players. They all get closer to their potential at different times. With Brock, it's a slow burn of getting better and better to the point where [now], he's one of our best players."
Much of Nelson's success was alongside Beauvillier, whose overall game trended in a similar upswing. According to Natural Stat Trick, the pair skated together in all 68 regular season games last year and logged a total of 806:07 TOI together in all situations.
Beauvillier, who at 23-years-old is entering his fifth season in the NHL, set career-highs last season with 39 points and 21 assists while matching his previous career-best of 18 goals. During the postseason, the Sorel-Tracy, Quebec native totaled 14 points (9G, 5A) through 22 games.
He credited much of his recent success to altering his mindset and taking pride in his role among his teammates. In his eyes, last season was just a starting point.

"I'm ready to take the next step in my game," Beauvillier said. "I want to be a better player and a more consistent player. I want to be a big part of this group, it's been like that for a couple of years now. I think it's time for me."
While last season was crucial for Beauvillier's confidence and comfort in a top-six role, it was earned, not given. Trotz fostered that mutual trust into eventually being comfortable to deploy Beauvillier in high-stake situations and holding him accountable to compete at a certain level of play.
"You cannot give a player confidence, you've got to earn it and [Beauvillier] has definitely earned it," Trotz said. "When he was a younger player, where he got hot and cold and went through streaks where he wasn't producing, that affected him. The points and assists matter. What he's learned is not necessarily the points and the assists, it's the process. The process is just playing well. You worry about just playing well and doing all of the right things systematically, making sure you're ready for every shift and that you're making good decisions. Through that process for any good player, you start producing. That has eased [Beauvillier's] mind a bit. He's just grown."
Since the start of training camp, the pair along with their linemate Bailey, have seemingly picked up right where they left off in playoffs. During the Islanders first training-camp scrimmage on Wednesday, the line combined for three goals in Team Blue's 4-2 victory over Team White. The Islanders will need that kind of consistent dominance from the line as they battle against fierce competition in the East Division.

"It's been fun," Nelson said of their line. "I think that's been the biggest thing is just going out there and playing relaxed to a certain degree and trusting each other. Barry said he trusts our line to go out there and get the job done - not always offensively. Points are a big focus for a lot of people, but we feel we can help in other ways too."
The expectations for the entirety of the Islanders is higher than it's ever been in recent years. And for Nelson and Beauvillier, their illuminating successes from last season are just that, in the past. What matters most for the Islanders and for individuals like Nelson and Beauvillier is how they append off of last year's accomplishments in the presence of this season's clean slate of bountiful opportunities.
"They know they're good players and they know they have to play a certain way," Trotz said. "They know if they play that way they're going to have success. It sounds really easy, but it's a lot harder when you're on the other end as players. It's a mountain you have to climb in this league. This league can humble you very quickly. It's a man's league and you can't take anything for granted."