JG Pageau In Top-Six Role For First Time Since Islanders-Ottawa Trade

For the first time since joining the New York Islanders, center Jean-Gabriel Pageau is back in a top-six role after the latest lineup changes.

While the talk of the town is the New York Islanders stacking their top line with their top-three scorers entering their Monday night showdown against the Dallas Stars, there was a trickle-down effect. 

Fourth-line center Casey Cizikas was elevated to the "Three-C" position alongside Pierre Engvall and Simon Holmstrom, while Kyle MacLean slotted in between Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck.

But there's one more chance to be discussed: Jean-Gabriel Pageau slotting in as the second-line center.

Since the Islanders acquired Jean-Gabriel Pageau from the Ottawa Senators at the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline for a 2020 conditional first-round pick, a 2020 second-round pick, and a 2022 conditional third-round pick, he's been groomed to be a shutdown bottom-six center.

The goal of the move for New York was to make them deeper down the middle, with Mathew Barzal as the No. 1 center, Brock Nelson as the No. 2, and Cizikas as the No. 4.

Despite Pageau playing top-line minutes with Ottawa, with 24 goals and 16 assists in 60 games in what was a career offensive 2019-20 season, he was always an intelligent player with defensive instincts, which made him such a commodity that deadline.

Barry Trotz's system certainly limited Pageau's ability to remain a creative forward, as he was tasked with going up against the league's best on a nightly basis to start the 2020-21 season. 

Pageau scored just 14 goals that first season under Trotz, with a major drop-off in his shot count from 151 the season before to just 81.

But the role wasn't a shooting role, and Pageau adapted, becoming one of the stronger shutdown forwards in the NHL.

He played alongside Anthony Beauvillier and Oliver Wahlstrom (87 minutes) and Michael Dal Colle and Leo Komarov (69 minutes).

Pageau suffered a wrist injury in the 2020 playoffs up in the Canadian bubble, and many say he hadn't been the same offensively since then, despite potting 18 goals in 2021-22, Trotz's last season on the island after 14 goals in 2020-21. 

He skated alongside Josh Bailey and Kyle Palmieri (225 minutes), and Zach Parise and Oliver Wahlstrom (197 minutes).

Pageau scored 13 goals last season under Lane Lambert, skating with Parise and Simon Holmstrom for most of the season before scoring seven goals in 57 games this season alongside Holmstrom and a rotation of right-wingers from Wahlstrom to Hudson Fasching to Julien Gauthier. 

Now, back in a top-six role for the first time in five years, does new head coach Patrick Roy use Pageau against the league's best, or is offense now the focal point?

If this role and these lines stick, can Pageau rediscover a once-offensive game?