Islanders won't loan Beauvillier despite frequent scratches

Team Canada will shoot for gold at the world juniors without New York Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier.

But it wasn't without every effort by Hockey Canada, which made a last-ditch attempt to add Beauvillier to its final roster, only to be rebuffed by the Islanders, reports TSN's Bob McKenzie.

The governing body made similar pleas to the Arizona Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, and Toronto Maple Leafs for loans of Lawson Crouse, Jakob Chychrun, Travis Konecny, and Mitch Marner, respectively, none of whom were released as they continue to play regular minutes with their NHL clubs.

That's not the case with Beauvillier. The 19-year-old, Quebec-born forward made the Islanders out of training camp but has seen little playing time as of late.

Beauvillier has been a healthy scratch through four of the Islanders' six December games, and has averaged about 12 minutes of playing time in the two games he's seen the ice this month. He was held pointless and recorded a minus-1 rating through those matches.

The season overall hasn't gone much better. Beauvillier got off to a strong start with five points in his first five games, then cooled, with just two points in his last 15 games.

Drafted 28th overall in 2015, Beauvillier spent last season with Shawinigan of the QMJHL, tallying 79 points in 47 games.

Still, Beauvillier insists he's happy to be in the NHL and playing with the Islanders, realizing the goal he made in training camp.

"I'm in the NHL right now and there's no place I’d rather be," Beauvillier told Newsday's Arthur Staple. "My goal at the beginning of the year was to play here the whole year, so I want to stay. If I would have been in juniors, it's a different story. World junior would have been a goal for sure. But I'm here and I want to stay here."