Jean-Gabriel Pageau: Two Autographed Cards

I wasn't sure if it would, but it's a done deal: the Ottawa Senators have traded Jean-Gabriel Pageau to the New York Islanders for a 2020 first-rounder (top-3 protected, but the Isles will likely make the playoffs, so that pick's safe), a 2020 second-rounder and potentially a 2022 third-rounder (if the isles win the Stanley Cup this year, which they probably won't).

If the Sens re-sign Pageau this summer, it's a landslide victory. I honestly have some difficulty picturing him in another uniform, let alone other colours than red, white and black. I may have preferred to see him go to the Calgary Flames.

He's one of my favourite players, one of the best two-way players in the league who has found his offensive upside again this year after a sub-par season last year - funny what outlier shooting percentages can do, eh? I hope he earns more post-season experience. He sure made an impact in 2017-18, with 10 points in 19 games, part of a balanced three-headed monster at centre with Derick Brassard (11 points) and Kyle Turris (10), helping the Sens to an Eastern Conference Final Game 7 overtime loss to eventual Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins.

Here he is wearing the Sens' white (away) uniform, checking an Arizona Coyotes player into the boards with a high elbow, on card #128 from Upper Deck's 2018-19 Series 1 collection:

And here he is wearing Ottawa's red (home) uniform with the alternate captain's "A" on his chest, on card #340 from the 2019-20 O-Pee-Chee set from UD:

I really think the Ottawa native and French-Canadian is an essential veteran to help lead the Senators' young guns, including the French-speaking Thomas Chabot and Maxime Lajoie. I hope they bring him back in July.

(edit, the Isles re-signed him for six years at a reasonable $5M per, for $30M total).

Jean-Gabriel Pageau Autographed Card

One of my favourite remaining players on the Ottawa Senators, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, was hit with his first career suspension earlier today, a one-game punishment for a hit to the back of the Vancouver Canucks' Ashton Sautner last night.

Pageau's usually a mild-mannered dependable two-way forward, but perhaps his extremely disappointing season is taking its toll on him: the Sens look like they'll finish last overall and he himself is marred in a three-year downward trajectory in terms of on-ice production, and he's posted his lowest per-game points average since becoming an NHL regular:

from FrozenTools

Then again, a career-low shooting percentage indicates this year is an outlier and, should he hit the 10% mark next year, will revert back to being a 40-point producer.

He's also playing on a defensive line with Tom Pyatt, who may very well retire after season's end if no one will hire him; his time in Ottawa looks pretty much over, especially now that head coach Guy Boucher has left/been fired.

Pageau signed this card for me last year:

It's card #49 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set, which he signed in blue sharpie; it's a much sharper signature than when he signed the same card for me back in 2015. That means I have one to trade...

Like Sean Couturier before him, I expect him to bounce back next year, as they're following a similar development curve.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau Printing Plate

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Jean-Gabriel Pageau Signed 8x10

Want to guess where I was tonight?

That's right, I witnessed the Ottawa Senators' historic double-overtime comeback win against the New York Rangers, where they overcame three different two-goal deficits to win thanks to four goals from Jean-Gabriel Pageau, a rare one from Marc Methot and yet another from Mark Stone.

A fourth-round pick (96th overall in 2011) and point-per-game player in the LHJMQ, mostly playing for his hometown Gatineau Olympiques, his strong hockey sense and two-way play has often seen him relegated to shut-down roles, even in his rookie season with the Ottawa Senators. The thinking was the same as the Philadelphia Flyers used with Sean Couturier and the Montréal Canadiens with Lars Eller: start out using his mental assets in refining his game without the puck until he builds enough confidence to produce offensively with it.

The risk in that is those players may never reach their potential as strong, two-way second-line centers because they've been pigeonholed so tightly they got used to playing just one way, and with just one type of winger. Pageau, however, with two playoff hat tricks under his belt at just 24 years of age, is showing signs that he wants to be a big-game player, a franchise centerpiece - and perhaps the Sens are the right team for that, able to ice three offensive lines with Kyle Turris and Derick Brassard ahead of him.

Here he is wearing the Sens' whote (away) uniform, on a beautiful 8x10 picture that he signed in blue sharpie, with his jersey number (44) tagged at the end:

The picture is obviously from a game against the New Jersey Devils.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau Autographed Card

There were three heroes for the Ottawa Senators tonight, as they beat the Montréal Canadiens in overtime at the Bell Centre - and I got two of them to sign for me tonight. (And I still have two cards I haven't posted from the other one from last year's playoffs in the pipeline).

It was hard to decide who I should feature first, but I decided to go with the player who scored the Sens' first goal of the evening on a shorthanded breakaway, Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

Pageau, who will turn 23 next week, is currently in his first full-time NHL season, but if the Sens played the Habs more often, he'd already be a 50-point player despite playing on Ottawa's third line more often than not. He already has 6 points in 8 regular-season career games against Montréal - including an identical shorthanded goal less than a month ago - and 11 points in 18 games factoring in the playoffs (including a hat trick).

He reached the point-per-game level in both the LHJMQ and AHL, so it's safe to predict he will start hitting the 40-to-60-point soon enough in the NHL as well. As it stands, though, he's a penalty-killing machine who hopes to become the next Daniel Brière.

Here he is with the Gatineau Olympiques, from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set (card #49 in the collection), which he signed in (dying) blue sharpie:

The Sens are in good hands with Kyle Turris, Mika Zibanejad and Pageau at center. And I'm glad to officially start a player collection of his.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau Autograph Card

At first glance, when the Ottawa Senators drafted hometown boy Jean-Gabriel Pageau 96th overall in 2011, it may have looked like a risky pick, but seeing the way he dominated his opposition in Juniors (the Philadelphia Flyers' Sean Couturier was among the victims of Pageau's brilliant two-way play), it was a gamble worth making.

Unfortunately for Pageau and the Sens, head coach Paul MacLean, seeing his sound play, elected to groom him little by little, by playing third- and fourth-line minutes rather than place him in an offensive role from the get-go (not unlike the Flyers with Couturier), so his NHL statistics so far (4 goals, 6 points in 32 regular-season games) don't seem all that impressive, but his 4 goals and 6 points in 10 playoff games sure do. As a matter of fact, he and Daniel Alfredsson are the only two Sens ever to have recorded a hat trick in the post-season.

GM Bryan Murray has said all year that Pageau deserved to make the team from training camp, but as the only forward eligible to be sent to the AHL's Binghamton Senators without having to clear waivers, he was on the outside looking in almost regardless of his play.

It's safe to say, though, that after posting a 20-goal and 44-point season in 46 AHL games last year and 18 points (second among forwards) in 25 games this year, he's earned his call-up in the wake of injuries to Chris Neil and Zach Smith.

With news that the Sens fired MacLean last week and replaced him with Dave Cameron, there was a sense that the 5'9'' speedster who turned 22 less than a month ago seemed to fit better on the younger, faster team that will try to make it back in the playoff picture with structured play and strong efforts - two things Pageau has in spades, in addition to his upside in the attacking zone.

It's fitting, then, that I share #44 off my Sens Numbers Project with this card of Pageau's, who has tremendous potential, when I already had one of Jason Spezza with the same number:

It's card #179 from the Authentic Rookie sub-set of Upper Deck's 2013-14 SP Game-Used Edition collection, showing him in the Senators' white (away) uniform, with a blue-sharpied, on-sticker autograph, with his jersey number tagged at the end.