Pageau Leads Senators Over Kings SensChirp

FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS

-It’s going to be terribly awkward when the Ottawa Senators trade Jean-Gabriel Pageau at the deadline because the way he’s playing right now, they might have to build a Pageau statue out front. Pageau’s overtime winner last night caps off what really has been a remarkable month for the 26-year old forward. He has four goals and five points over his last four games and now sits atop the National Hockey League in the plus/minus category. Of course plus/minus was a flawed stat but now that Pageau leads in that category, it’s basically all I care about. A shutdown forward, that goes head to head with the top line of the other team, on a 28th place team, leads the league in plus minus. Kind of incredible.

-Of course with each Pageau goal, assist and “pucks in deeps”, the speculation about his future in Ottawa is only increased. Pageau spoke about his contract situation a little bit yesterday, suggesting that there have been no talks to this point and that he’s just planning to keep working hard and take things a day at a time. That’s so Pageau. For what it’s worth, Bruce Garrioch’s bow-tie mentioned last night that he expects Dorion to reach out to Pageau’s agent in the near future. Meanwhile, there is already speculation out there about what Pageau might net the Senators in a trade- a first round pick and a prospect. Eeep.

-Now here’s the thing about that trade return. It sounds great. But without context- including the approximate range of the pick, the quality of the prospect and Pageau’s contract demands- it’s basically impossible to formulate an opinion on this issue. That hasn’t stopped everyone fro trying but still. The idea of adding another pick is enticing but with five in the first two rounds, the Senators have to carefully weigh the pros and cons here. You can never have too many draft picks BUT at some point, you have to be prepared to package those assets for a player that can help you now. Like say, a 26 year old shutdown forward with a history of playoff success that is finally finding his offensive touch after a brutal injury and is from the area and loved by the fan base. Hey, wait a minute.

-Some good news for Nick Paul last night as DJ Smith let him know that he can go ahead and get a place. That means that for the foreseeable future, Nick Paul is an Ottawa Senator. It also means he can finally move out of the roster bubble he has been living in for the last few seasons. There has been a lot of talk about Nick Paul getting a legitimate opportunity under DJ Smith but it’s clearly more than that. Nick Paul seems to have finally processed what it takes to be an everyday NHLer. Last year in Belleville, where he played in a more offensive role, seemed to do wonders for his confidence. Nick Paul played 20:29 last night.

-This isn’t going to be good news for the tankers among us but I am officially calling it- the Ottawa Senators are not a last place team. DJ Smith has this group all pulling in the same direction right now and that level of buy-in is keeping them in almost every hockey game. They are rarely getting massively outplayed and with some quality goaltending, they have a shot to win on most nights. And as the games against New York, Los Angeles and Detroit have shown us, there are some other truly terrible hockey teams in this league.

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Next up- vs. Carolina (Saturday), @ Carolina (Monday), @ New Jersey (Wednesday)