Nelson Fitting Into Bigger Role

The New York Islanders presented Brock Nelson with an interesting opportunity heading into the season.
Nelson had the chance to step into a top-six role, centering one of the team's top two lines in the wake of John Tavares' departure. It was a role Nelson previously had, but the Islanders center depth last season pushed him to the team's third line. With a team-high nine goals, Nelson's made the most of his opportunity through the first 22 games.

"It's a huge opportunity that Brock's taking advantage of and one that he's filled fantastically," said Anders Lee, who started the season on Nelson's wing. "Everyone always knew he could do that, it's just taking that chance he's gotten this year and really taking it by the horns. It's awesome to see because we really needed him to step up and he has."
The top-six role is more of a natural fit for a goal scorer, whose best attribute has long been his wrist shot. It's yielded Nelson almost three more minutes of ice time this season, as he's averaged 18:10 TOI/GP this season compared to 14:44 last year.

His offense hasn't been power play dependent either, as all nine of Nelson's goals have come at even strength this season. The center is tied for third in overall points (18) on the Islanders with Lee.
"It's a little bit different, but kind of just frees you up to go out and play," Nelson said. "Let natural instincts take over, go out there, be confident and help the team. Obviously still go out and be reliable defensively, you never want to take your foot off the gas there, but just go out there, not do too much, but just kind of let the plays happen."
Nelson started the season with Lee and Jordan Eberle, but has kept up his production whether he's skated with them, Josh Bailey, or Tom Kuhnhackl. He's created offense by hustling, beating out a pair of Canucks to a puck in the corner before setting up Eberle up in the Isles 5-2 win over Vancouver. Nelson also used a nifty stick-check to strip Anthony DeAngelo before setting up Cal Clutterbuck's empty-netter in the 7-5 win over the Rangers.

Nelson's stayed responsible of both sides of the puck, as he held the Isles blue line when Kyle Palmieri tried to enter the zone in overtime of Friday's win in New Jersey. The next play, springing Mathew Barzal for a breakaway and the game-winner.
"He's playing with a little bit of confidence that he's earned," Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "Hopefully the trust that he feels from me and the staff and where we put him. He understands there's an importance to his role and he has to be a productive player."
Trotz theorizes that some of the confidence stems from feeling secure that he has an important role on the team. The Isles coached used a metaphor fitting for Thanksgiving.
"Now that he has a little bigger piece of the pie, he knows he's counted on every night to be a real good player for us," Trotz said.
Trotz's trust and the top-six role comes with matchups against the league's best players. Trotz matched Nelson against reigning MVP Taylor in the Islanders' 3-0 shutout against the Devils on Nov. 3.

"He's growing in his role and trust - I have a tremendous amount of trust in him," Trotz said after the Nov. 3 Devils game. "He's really one of the better two-way players. He's cerebral and does things the right way and has a real good skill set."
The key for Nelson will be keeping up his consistent play. Nelson has been a streaky scorer in the past, but has found the scoresheet consistently this season, with points in 12 of the Islanders past 16 games. He's taken the Brocktober mindset - 23 of his 108 goals have come in 60 October games - and kept it alive to start November. Whether the month gets re-named Nelvember or Brovember is TBD, but Nelson and the Isles are happy with the way he's playing to start the season.
"I'm trying to go out there and play hard, play two-way and go out there and play free and be a guy you can lean on and help the team win," Nelson said. "You just have to be able to bring it every night and that's my focus right now."