SAN JOSE, Calif. — For a fleeting moment, it looked like Brayden Schenn might be the Islanders’ eventual replacement for Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Instead, the Islanders are going to roll with both stingy defensive centermen as they inked Pageau to a three-year extension minutes after the trade deadline passed Friday, heading off his pending free agency. Per an industry source, the deal carries a $4.85 million AAV.
Pageau also has a full no-trade clause for the first two years of the deal and a 16-team no-trade clause for the last year, according to PuckPedia.
Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) shoots the puck against Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson. David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Pageau will be 34 next season when the extension kicks in, and agreed to a slight pay cut from his current $5 million annual salary. He hasn’t shown much sign of aging this year, with 14 goals and 15 assists with strong play on the penalty kill. He’s also helped to unlock Simon Holmstrom, showing terrific chemistry with the Swede, and regularly takes on a mentorship role in the dressing room.
General manager Mathieu Darche held off on engaging Pageau’s camp in extension talks earlier this year, wanting to see how the season developed. The sky-high prices on the center market changed that calculation over the last week.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau of the New York Islanders celebrates his goal against the Minnesota Wild. NHLI via Getty Images“I wanted to see if I’d be able to get a deal before risking losing him for nothing,” Darche said. “I thought him and his agent did a great job. It was a fairly easy negotiation. We talked. I think it’s a deal that fits for us going forward.”
The reason Darche didn’t view Schenn as Pageau’s replacement, he said, was because he wanted to “augment the team” as opposed to simply swapping one player for another.
“Why take a player out to bring a similar player?” Darche said. “If not, I would’ve just kept the player and do nothing. Just ride with what we have right now. But now, I think we improved the team. Pager’s hard to play against, Brayden Schenn is hard to play against, so you bring more of those guys.”
Darche said he hasn’t yet engaged captain Anders Lee, also a pending unrestricted free agent, on an extension, though he did speak to Lee regarding Pageau’s extension.
“Anders is a pro; he understands. But for me, it was important to have that discussion with him,” Darche said. “… When we got the deal pretty much done with Pageau, I made sure I sat down with him, and [he] understood why.”
Alexander Romanov is “doing really well” in his recovery from shoulder surgery, Darche said.
“There’s a chance he could be ready for the [start] of playoffs, if not early in playoffs,” Darche said. “He’s trending really well.”
Darche made official what had been expected since training camp and acknowledged that the Islanders don’t expect Semyon Varlamov to play this season
