Johnny Boychuk is a leader in the locker room and physical, two-way defenseman on the ice. How did he perform this year?

The Good:

Although Boychuk struggled offensively, his power-play numbers were very solid. The Islanders were limited to 168 minutes on the power-play which was last in the NHL, but out of all players on the team, Boychuk had the highest expected goals per 60 minutes on the team on the man advantage. Boychuk was expected to have 11.8 goals per 60 minutes, which was 10.14 higher than the next Islander, Brock Nelson.
Clearly, Boychuk has proven to be valuable on the power-play, but according to Fox Sports, he was limited to around 5 seconds per game on the power play. With a combination of his hard shot, experience in the league, and Expected Goals, he has been and should continue to benefit the Islanders’ lackluster power play, albeit in a limited role.

The Bad:

Aside from the power-play, Johnny Boychuk had a significant negative impact on the Islanders this year. Coming from a mediocre 2018-2019 season, his defensive and offensive play struggled mightily, for he became below replacement in Goals For, Expected Goals For, Corsi For, Expected Goals Against, and Corsi Against, per Evolving Hockey.
Even worse, Boychuk is rated as the worst Islander in both Goals Above Replacement and Expected Goals Above Replacement with a minimum of 100 minutes on ice. And unfortunately, to end the season Boychuk suffered a horrifying injury. In the third period in the game against the Canadiens, Artturi Lehkonen’s skate caught Boychuk near his eye and he suffered 90 stitches. It was a terrible way to end the season, but hopefully, in the upcoming season, Boychuck can step up.

The Moment of the Season:

After spending a full night in the hospital suffering from the terrible eye injury on March 3 against the Canadiens, Boychuk sent out a meaningful tweet that captured his true devotion to the fans and his leadership on the team. Many people sent him positive messages to help him get well, and he said that the tweets “do not go unheard” and he apologized for the late response. Also, he humorously tweeted that his facial recognition was not working. It is truly honorable to see how he is able to be positive in a terrible and it speaks to his character as a leader.

The Expectations:

Overall, Johnny Boychuk did not live up to his expectation. With respect to his age, he still had little to no production this past year and proved to be way out of his prime. Struggling both offensively and defensively, it is a matter of time before Boychuk falls out of the rotation, especially with the Islanders deep defensive prospect pool.

The Verdict:

Yes, Johnny Boychuk is a leader. Yes, Johnny Boychuk was solid at times. But the numbers do not lie, and all in all, he was a below-average player this season.

The Score: 76/C

John Smark