Anthony Beauvillier: Two Autographed Cards

The New York Islanders did what they do tonight, shutting down the Washington Capitals to win their first-round series in 5 games, two fewer than I had thought it would take, on the strength of two goals from 22-year-old Anthony Beauvillier, who now leads his team with 6 goals and 9 points in 9 postseason games.

It'll be hard to keep that pace up on a team coached by defensive mastermind Barry Trotz, but "Bovril" was still sixth in team scoring in the regular season with 39 points and fourth in goals, as his 18 in 68 games matched his previous season's mark that was attained in 81 contests.

He hasn't yet reached teammate Mathew Barzal's level of productivity, but he will definitely be part of the Isles' core group going forward and will be a great pair with trade deadline acquisition and clutch performer Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the middle-six group.

Internationally, he has represented Team Québec in the 2014 U-17s (fourth-place finish) and Team Canada at the 2014 Hlinka-Gretzky U-18s Cup (gold), the 2015 U-18 World Juniors (silver), the 2016 World Juniors (sixth place) and the 2017 World Championships (fourth place), a team that was led by Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Colton Parkayko and Pierre-Luc Dubois and that also included current Islanders Pageau, Barzal, Jordan Eberle, Josh Bailey, and Ryan Pulock, as well as Ryan O'Reilly, Jaden Schwartz, Brayden Schenn, Darnell Nurse, Thomas Chabot and Ryan Murray.

This card shows him wearing Canada's white ("home") uniform during the 2015 U-18s, where he was teammates with Barzal, Chabot and Dubois as well as Nicolas Roy, Mitchell Stephens, Brett Howden, Ethan Bear, Matthew Spencer and Guillaume Dubois:

That's card #H-7 from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Team Canada Juniors set and Hydro sub-set that is a lot more silver to the naked eye than this dark scan, although the scan might look a tad cooler. It enables me to add him as #9 in my Team Canada Numbers Project, where he also occupied the #21 spot for now.

Tonight, however, he goes down as the Capital Eliminator in the Islanders' white (away) uniform, as seen on card #231 from UD's 2018-19 O-Pee-Chee set:

I got these returns in the mail around this time last year, signed in blue sharpie, the Team Canada card tagged with his jersey number (9) at the end.

Anthony Beauvillier: Two Autographed Cards

(As per years past, this is a twin-post with my "regular" blog, where I predicted the Isles would finish second in the Metropolitan Division in 2019-20).

Anthony Beauvillier seemingly took a step back in his age 21 season in Barry Trotz' defensive system, but he learned the fundamentals that will help him going forward. An offensively-minded centre in Juniors who was a two-point-per-game player after being drafted, Beauvillier made the New York Islanders' roster as a winger, for the simple reason that there were already three first-round centres already on te team in John Tavares, Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome, and in time he seemed to develop chemistry with Josh Bailey and, eventually, Mathew Barzal.

Now in his fourth NHL season, it'd be surprising to see him start facing off against lifelong centres, so it's likely he'll remain on the wing, where his playmaking skills might only go utilized on the powerplay. He does remain an excellent shooter though, and with a 20-goal season already under his belt, it's time he set his sights on the 30-goal plateau, which he could reach at least fibe or six times in a 105-year career in my opinion, with a high of around 35 or 36.

Think of him as a second-line version of the Florida Panthers' Jonathan Huberdeau and you're close to what his upside can be. The Islanders signed him to a two-year bridge deal expecting a breakout season soon.

Here he is wearing Team Canada's red (away) uniform on card #34 from Upper Deck's 2016-17 Team Canada Juniors set:

He's wearing the #21 jersey, which is perfect for my Team Canada Numbers Project.

And here's a great three-picture card showing him with the Isles:

It's #120 from Upper Deck' 2017-18 Series 1 collection.

He signed these in blue sharpie during the 2018-19 season, but I alos have some that he signed this summer at a charity event that I'll feature eventually.