Mat Barzal’s Islanders transition back to center ‘like riding a bike’

At least until prospect Calum Ritchie is ready to make the leap to the NHL, the Islanders’ lineup vision hinges largely on shifting Mat Barzal back to center, where, if all goes according to plan, he will play regularly this season for the first time since the club traded for Bo Horvat at the 2023 All-Star break. 

After Barzal invested time and energy into learning how to play on Horvat’s wing, going back to the middle — combined with knocking off the rust after a kneecap injury ended his season in February, later requiring surgery — is expected to be a process. 

“I think it’s going to take a bit of time, but that’s what we have. We have time,” coach Patrick Roy said Friday. “We’ll see how it goes and right now, I think it’s going to be some adjustments he’s going to have to make.” 

Barzal looked good at the position Friday during the Islanders’ intrasquad scrimmage, when he centered Anders Lee and Kyle Palmieri, and he sounded a positive note afterward. 

“I feel like I’ve played it my whole life,” he said. “So, it’s like riding a bike a little bit.” 

One potential snag is that Barzal has always struggled in the faceoff circle, winning just 42.3 percent of his career faceoffs, with an abysmal 35.6 percent rate in 2022-23 when he last played in the middle regularly.

The Islanders were the league’s best faceoff team last year at 54.9 percent. 

“He’s going to work with [assistant coach Benoit Desrosiers] and he’s got [some] of the best centermen at faceoffs in [J-G] Pageau and Horvat,” Roy said. “So he’s going to have plenty of time to work with and it’s just a bit of commitment from him wanting to do it.” 

Earlier this week, Barzal made a point of saying he hopes he still can get some minutes with Horvat, even if the two are primarily split up, since they’ve built strong chemistry together. 

Assuming he starts the year at center, though, the chances for that would likely come primarily at the end of games if the Islanders are pushing for a goal. 

Barzal did not hold back in assessing No. 1 pick Matthew Schaefer. 

“He’s going to be one of, if not the best, defenseman in the league, I think, at some point,” Barzal said. “Based off his instincts right now, he’s got it.” 

MSG announced its broadcast schedule for the Islanderson Friday, with the family of networks set to televise 72 regular-season and four preseason games this season.

Brendan Burke will be doing play-by-play with Butch Goring and Thomas Hickey as analysts, while Shannon Hogan and Cal Clutterbuck will be on the pre- and postgame.