It’s that time in the offseason where all the action has wound down and there aren’t a lot of moves to be made. The signings are in the past and the next big thing that could happen, if at all, is a trade. Whether it’s a blockbuster deal or a minor move, a deal at this point in the summer would get the hockey juices flowing and everyone wondering what it means for the teams involved.
The New York Islanders can still make a trade, even after signing Anthony Duclair and re-signing Mike Reilly, but to do so, they must clear up some salary cap space. The player they can trade to help them do that is Jean-Gabriel Pageau, a middle-six center with a $5 million average annual value (AAV) contract and the Islanders ideally would find a team willing to take on that cap hit.
Now it’s easy to think that there isn’t a team out there that wants Pageau and his contract. What type of team would be willing to take on salary for a player in their 30s and on the decline? There are a few teams that fit this bill in part because they are rebuilding or retooling. They would take on the contract if it meant they got something else in the deal as well. It also helps that Pageau, while not as good as he used to be, can be a mentor on a younger roster.
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks have to spend just to reach the cap floor and they still have a lot of room to take on a bad contract or even a few bad contracts if they want. They are in the middle of a rebuild but one that at times, appears to have no direction. The young core is promising, but instead of allowing them to develop into star players, the Ducks often add veterans to take on big roles and ice time in the process (case in point, signing a 34-year-old Alex Killorn to a four-year contract).
Related: Islanders Choosing Veterans Over Youth to Fix Defense
Adding Pageau and taking on his contract would be another one of those types of moves. In this case, they’ll be adding a skater who plays a bottom-six role. He wouldn’t help the rebuild and make the Ducks more competitive, but he could be one of the mentors for a younger team. On the ice, he would also provide an upgrade defensively to a team that allowed 3.57 goals per game last season.
Calgary Flames
This team is in an interesting spot. The Calgary Flames had their firesale at the trade deadline and they traded away all their veterans aside from Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, and MacKenzie Weegar. With youth throughout the lineup, they’re starting to build this team from the ground up. They aren’t rebuilding, but the retool is heading in the right direction and it won’t be long before they are competitive again.
They have a lot of cap space because of the roster turnover and can take on a contract. Pageau’s would only make sense if they received a prospect in the deal as well, something the Islanders don’t have a surplus of. That said, Pageau and one of the top prospects in a trade where the Flames take on the contract could work for all sides involved.
It also helps that Pageau would help the Flames in the immediate future. He would be an upgrade at the third-line center role and add depth to a roster with young emerging talent. The Flames are starting to build something promising and adding Pageau could accelerate their timeline.
Seattle Kraken
The above-mentioned teams would want to add Pageau as a mentor, while the Seattle Kraken could use him in their lineup. They need a middle-six center to help out an offense that was awful last season. The Kraken averaged only 2.61 goals per game and the inability to create offense, especially after their top-six, was a glaring weakness.
The Kraken already addressed the need for scoring this offseason with the addition of Chandler Stephenson plus the signing of two-way defenseman Brandon Montour. They also hired Dan Bylsma and a new coaching staff with the hope of improving on the offensive end of the ice. Now, they need a third-line center who can add a spark, and Pageau, even as a pass-first player on the decline, fulfills that need.
St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues are staring at an inevitable rebuild. They already made the coaching change and are starting to part with veterans who were key parts of the Stanley Cup-winning roster. Only four players from the 2018-19 team remain and eventually, the Blues will have to start over with a youth movement leading the way.
Adding Pageau gives them a head start, not because of the veteran acquisition but because of the draft selection that would be thrown into the deal. The Blues must add assets to both their farm system and their draft board and a Pageau trade at least gets them some of that.
Islanders Can Move Mayfield in a Similar Type of Deal
The Islanders ideally would trade Pageau to open up some cap space and the hope is that they can do the same with Scott Mayfield. The problem is that he has a tougher contract to move. Pageau’s contract has two more seasons attached to it but Mayfield’s has six more seasons plus a no-trade clause that must be lifted for a trade to happen. So, if the Islanders move him, it would come with an extra draft pick to sweeten the offer.
If this team is going to make a big move, a bad contract has to be taken off their books. It’s a tall task but if the Islanders find one team interested in doing so for draft capital, it opens the door for a big trade to happen later in the summer. It’s most likely the Islanders remain quiet but if a big trade is on the horizon, it will start with a Pageau or Mayfield trade.
