Since 1972 only eleven New York Islanders rookies have scored hat-tricks. On December 23rd, 2017, Mathew Barzal became the eleventh member of the club with three against the Winnipeg Jets.
Barzal joins an illustrious list of New York Islanders rookies like Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, and Pat LaFontaine to score a hat-trick in their first season. He’s also the last to achieve the feat since Michael Grabner did it 2011.
Does it mean anything? Niklas Andersson got a rookie hat-trick in 1996 and he never amounted to much at the NHL level. Mats Hallin also got a rookie hat-trick in 1983, but he also never really did much.