I usually am behind the whole players performing better in contract years, and in Josh’s case I’m sure it’s def a contributing factor.
But for as bad as Isles fans have been on his case from basically day 1, don’t you think he would’ve found this magic “motivation” to produce much earlier?
As stated above, I think it’s finally starting to click for him. He’s always been a solid player, responsible in his own zone, but it seemed like he lacked confidence to be a consistent player evidenced by him disappearing for stretches at a time (I’d argue that even during those stretches he was never a liability like other players, just wasn’t showing up on the stat sheet).
He’s older, more mature, developed chemistry with certain guys and now you’re seeing a player who’s around the top of the league in points.
There’s a chance he comes back to earth a bit, but even so, he’s still improved basically every season he’s been in the league.
As a fan of his for a long time, I’m extremely happy for him, happy he’s gonna get a nice raise, hopefully he takes a hometown discount to help finish what they’ve started and stay here for the long term!