{"id":547223,"date":"2026-04-08T11:05:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/547223\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:05:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:05:30","slug":"pete-deboers-first-big-islanders-move-is-mathew-barzal-position-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/547223\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete DeBoer\u2019s first big Islanders move is Mathew Barzal position change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Mathew Barzal is being moved back to center for the Islanders’ stretch run, Image 2 shows Mathew Barzal battles for Trevor Zegras for the puck during the Islanders’ loss to the Flyers on April 3, 2026 at UBS Arena<\/p>\n

Mathew Barzal says his \u201cheart\u201d on the ice is at center.<\/p>\n

Under new Islanders coach Pete DeBoer, his heart is getting what it wants.<\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s second practice of DeBoer\u2019s tenure, Barzal skated in the middle with Brayden Schenn shifted to left wing.<\/p>\n

With four games left in the regular season and the Islanders (42-31-5) jostling for a playoff spot, they need DeBoer to shake things up after firing Patrick Roy. One of his first tweaks will be moving Barzal back to his favored position.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy initial reaction watching Mat from the other bench is, everybody\u2019s looking for that type of speed in the middle of the ice,\u201d the former Panthers, Devils, Sharks, Golden Knights and Stars coach told reporters after practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think the fact that he\u2019s played both, that he can play both, is a great thing. And coming back from the Olympics, out of the 14 or 15 forwards [Team Canada] took, most of them were centermen. So you\u2019ve got to be able to move around and play different roles. But that speed through the middle of the ice is really dangerous. And the good teams all have that \u2014 [Jack] Eichel in Vegas and [Connor] McDavid and [Nathan] MacKinnon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barzal has toggled between wing and center during his decade with the Islanders but hasn\u2019t lined up in the middle since early February \u2014 a 23-game span in which he registered 24 points and five goals.<\/p>\n

In the prior 54 games this season, Barzal lined up at center 50 times, totaling 43 points. His four starts at right wing before February resulted in three points.<\/p>\n

\"Mathew<\/p>\n

Mathew Barzal is being moved back to center for the Islanders\u2019 stretch run. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

DeBoer stopped short of confirming where Barzal will line up, but the forward welcomes a move back to the middle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my heart, as a player, is probably down the middle of the ice, just because it allows me to do a lot of things,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I really like my time on the wing, and I think it\u2019s actually helped me as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moments earlier, he said: \u201cI like both, to be honest with you. I like being down the middle, maybe a little more speed underneath the puck.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I also like being on the wing, with being able to maybe be ahead of the play a little bit sometimes, and create some offense off the breakout and on entries and stuff, coming out of the wall and kind of getting creative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mathew<\/p>\n

Mathew Barzal battles for Trevor Zegras for the puck during the Islanders\u2019 loss to the Flyers on April 3, 2026 at UBS Arena. Alexander Wohl-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

DeBoer, who reached the Stanley Cup Final with the Sharks and Devils, stopped practice a handful of times Tuesday to give players instructions from a whiteboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m drinking through a fire hose right now, trying to get up to speed,\u201d the coach said of his whirlwind start in New York.<\/p>\n

DeBoer, 57, also employed color-coded uniforms for the team\u2019s lines, though he said he\u2019s being mindful of not \u201cparalyzing\u201d his players with too much information.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to get to know the group. \u2026 I don\u2019t know them,\u201d DeBoer said. \u201cI\u2019ve been coaching in the West for 10 years. So I don\u2019t know this group as well as I would like to know them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barzal was less stressed about his and his linemates\u2019 potential positional tweaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easier to go from center to wing than wing to center,\u201d he said when asked about himself, Schenn and Cal Ritchie all being natural centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchenner and Rich are both really smart players. I think it\u2019s an easy adaptation for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer hopes that\u2019s the case when the Isles host the Maple Leafs in a pivotal Thursday night matchup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Mathew Barzal is being moved back to center for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[1287,6303,5,122,7095,20,1951,341,3328,159,5190,5189,4,2087,4937,4185],"class_list":{"0":"post-547223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-brayden-schenn","9":"tag-eichel","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-islanders","12":"tag-mackinnon","13":"tag-maple-leafs","14":"tag-mathew-barzal","15":"tag-mcdavid","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-islanders","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkislanders","20":"tag-nhl","21":"tag-pete-deboer","22":"tag-the-islanders","23":"tag-trevor-zegras"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116368764254896297","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}