Lou Lamoriello is making moves at the deadline as the New York Islanders trade draft picks for Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
The New York Islanders are pushing more chips to the center of the table in the 2019-20 season. On Monday, team president Lou Lamoriello traded two draft picks and a conditional third-rounder to the Ottawa Senators for Jean-Gabriel Pageau per Darren Dreger of TSN.
The picks include a 2020 top-three protected first-rounder, 2020 second-round pick, and conditional third-rounder that only kicks in if the Isles win the Stanley Cup this year. If the 2020 first-round pick lands in the top three, it will become 2021 first instead.
Pageau, 27, brings 24 goals and 16 assists with him to Long Island which is solid production considering Ottawa’s freefall this season. Additionally, Pageau is an impressive plus-10 on the 21-30-11 Senators.
This move beefs up the Isles’ top lines as they look to make a run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. New York is currently first in the Eastern Conference wild-card picture with 76 points, but winning the division is still a possibility. The Islanders are only six points behind the Metropolitan Division’s leader—the Washington Capitals.
After winning two games in a row, the Islanders are starting to pick up a little steam. However, with upcoming matchups against the New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, and Boston Bruins, the Isles have no time to rest on their laurels.
The trade for Pageau shows the team’s urgency to make a legitimate push this year. The Canadian center might not be a superstar, but he adds firepower to a team that definitely needs more of a scoring punch.