would have to retain half on Pageau for Ottawa to consider

Hmmm that's weird lol, I've seen Sens fans saying they would be interested in him without too many retention

Haven't seen any of those trades from Ottawa fans... but at 50% you got a deal.

Where's Martin and Clutterbuck?

You think that no one is going to offer Elias Lindholm more than a one-year prove-it deal?!?

Love Pager but two more years at 4.25m is a little too much

Clutterbuck is a UFA, and can definitely see Staios interested in him in the offseason.

Yeah Ottawa isn't taking on Pageau. Especially with how well Ostapchuk showed while called up. Stutzle, Norris, Pinto, Greig, Giroux, Kastelic, MacEwen, & Ostapchuk are all centers the team will be looking at next training camp.

I can see clutterbuck retiring. Martin probably gets hired as a scout lol

tbf only 3 of those guys are actual NHL centers at this point and Norris is unpredictable at best. Depending on what we get for Chychrun & what the norris situation looks like, its well withing the range of outcomes that we get JGP as a 3C

I agree that Norris' health makes slotting him in a little unpredictable, but Norris, Stutzle, Pinto and (4th line) Kastelic are all legit NHL pivots. Greig could easily play that 3rd line pivot spot. He's 42.7% in FOW and if given decent wingers could handle being moved over. Ostapchuk is another bottom 6 option if he has support and, while his FOW% wasn't very great for Ohio State, Halliday could be another pleasant surprise. Even if Norris isn't ready to go in September Ottawa taking JGP back with anything less than 40% retained would be foolish.

Yeah if your centres are Norris Pinto Stutzle it will be fine, no need for JGP. If the top 9 Cs though are a combination of Stutzle Pinto and Greig/Ostapchuk (which is something that could happen), with all due respect to those guys but thats not good enough to be an actual playoff team imo. Pinto could be good at 2C if we add a winger to compliment him and Batherson, and Greig/ZO might be good enough to slot into 3C in a pinch (I think theyre both better suited for the wing though), but that is a ton of inexperience down the middle. My only issue is that if the isles are willing to eat like 40% of his contract, more teams are probably going to be in on him and it'll drive the return up for picks/pieces that were pretty short on. I think if we bridge pinto for 2 years we could easily fit JGP in @ 5m and maybe get a pick with him to boot

No not for the price it would cost against the cap it doesn't. Norris has a long-term contract, he will be playing again eventually. It just makes no sense for Ottawa to spend over $4M on a small, aging center when Ottawa will alreafy have more productive, younger, and cheaper options. Ottawa could've had Pageau for a song before last season and turned it down. The need for a guy like Pageau is even less now than it was before last season.

The team will be looking to replace Tarasenko... Factor in the draft as well, there are kids in this draft that could be ready to play in the NHL next season. Greig is a capable 3rd line center. 24 points in his rookie year is pretty decent and is +11 on one of the worst teams in the NHL. Pageau has 7 more points and is -9 on a much better team. Why pay $4M for a guy who will produce slightly more than a guy on an ELC? Ottawa has more important needs than an aging center who makes too much money, and isn't all that productive?

Obviously it would depend on all the other moves that OTT makes but Pageau at $4.25M next season means there's not much left over to fix our bigger concerns - and I say bigger because scoring hasn't been our problem, we're ranked 15th in GF. Yes, Pageau would help our PK, but even our issue PK woes are primarily the D, our forwards have been pretty decent on the kill with the exception of the odd Stutzle gaff.
If we only can make one addition in that price range going after DeMelo would make a far bigger difference than Pageau.

Its not that i dont think Greig is a bad player obviously, I would just rather have at least 1 true centre on the roster whos older than 23. Greig has played well but he has been largely on the wing this year, keeping him at the wing and putting JGP at centre (for example) would let him keep playing his game of flying up and down the ice and getting below the goalline. Its not a direct substitution for Greig either so theres not much sense in comparing their numbers imo, we would be adding JGP to keep greig playing at the wing not to keep him out of the lineup. If greig does end up playing centre, we would probably be looking for a third line wing in that pageau salary range anyway, I would just rather add experince down the middle instead of on the wing

We have a ton of capspace next season. With chychrun off the books were sitting at like 18 million in cap with Pinto being the only player of note needing a new deal. If norris is on the LTIR next year were over 25 million. Tons of space to add multiple players this offseason.

Oh no I get that.... But Where does he fit down the middle with Stutzle, Norris, and Pinto all being better centers? Greig likely goes back to the wing regardless because he's not going to be the 4th line center. But Ottawa doesn't need to shell out the type of cap hit for a guy like Pageau. He's not worth his cap hit, and there really isn't any room for him in the top 9.

I think projecting norris to play a healthy 82 games at any point is a bit iffy at this point. If he does then thats huge, but JG would be insurance that we maintain a good top 9 in the event Norris (or anyone else for that matter) misses time up the line-up. If we can keep Stutzle-Norris-Pinto healthy for a year, then theres still a spot for him on the third-line wing (or even 4c if you really want to run deep) if need be. We could even shimmy norris to the wing if faceoffs are too much on his shoulder and go Stutzle-Pinto-JGP. The cap hit will be fine imo. once Chychrun is gone, the term is okay and the number is not great but its not un-manageable especially given we have the majority of our core players locked into long-term deals at good AAVs. He may not be worth his cap-hit in full, but I also dont think hes worth nothing.

I think the most important thing though is that he fits what we need and is going to be cheap to acquire. We need another responsible 2-way forward with experience and leadership, but we dont have the assets to be able to spend big on one. This is also JGPs worst season since hes been with the islanders, I also think he could have a bit of a resurgence next season as well.

If he was making league minimum? Maybe.... But $5M is way too much for a smallish player that doesn't produce much. If you're going to spend $5M in cap space, there are about 50 players easily that would be better options for that cap to be spent. Not to mention a guy like Jarventie would be a better option on the wing than a natural center. I agree keeping Stutzle, Norris, & Pinto healthy for an entire season seems impossible at this point, but we'll see where Ottawa selects in the draft as well.