Jean-Gabriel Pageau

I think the default option here for Eisman is to put him in the AHL while Eklund makes the team.

I do think there's a world where the season can start and the third line can be Eklund, Peugeot, Heinemann.

And with that, I want to talk about the next player in Prokhorov.

Prokhorov, I think, had perhaps the most eye-opening performance.

Schenn, Ritchie, and Ehlund as the third line.

Pageau, Cizikas, and Palat as your fourth line.

And then you have Pelech and Schafer, with Schafer, uh, Schafer, Pelech, Pulock, Romanov, D'Angelo, and George.

I assume Mayfield becomes the seventh defenseman.

I like the idea of Heineman and Horvat.

I like the idea of Barzal and Palmieri and Michelli.

Uh, and I think moving Cizikas to the wing and having Pageau center the fourth line is not illogical, and I think it'll happen, uh, i- at the very least, I think next season, Pageau could be the fourth line center, or Schenn could drop down and be the fourth line center, depending on how quickly, uh, Cal Ritchie steps in.

So to Joseph K., uh, thank you.

You manage it by specialization.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau is still the gold standard for defensive face-offs.

Barzal and Horvat take the high-leverage offensive shifts.

The others, Foudy, MacLean, Schenn, they need to provide secondary scoring and physical presence.

Well, you also have, Dave, you have Brayden Schenn, former captain of the St. Louis Blues.

You could either throw it to other veteran players, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Andre- uh, Andre Burakovsky, Casey Cizikas.

Anthony Duclair has been on a bunch of winning, good teams in his career.

So there is a lot of players in this lineup that, like you said, Matthew Schaefer is going to learn from.

And as we mentioned yesterday, this isn't just about who plays.

It's about how Head Coach Robin Ventura manages the ice time for a center group that includes Matthew Barzal, Bo Horvat, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Liam Foudy, Kyle MacLean, Calum Ritchie, Brayden Schenn, Casey Cizikas, and Kyle Palmieri.

Nine centers, Gary.

That is an unprecedented number for a modern NHL lineup.

We keep saying it's the centers, but if I had to pick one matchup that defines the Islanders' identity this year, who wins?

It has to be the competition for the second line center role behind Matthew Barzal.

You have Bo Horvat, who brings that elite two-way reliability, but you also have Liam Foudy coming off that breakout projection we talked about yesterday, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, whose penalty kill and face-off metrics are historically strong.

[car hooting] Right, because if you put Pageau there, you're locking down the defensive structure.

In segment two, we're tackling the center depth chart.

Mike in Queens asks, "We have Matthew Barzal, Bo Horvat, Liam Foudy, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Casey Cizikas, Kyle McLain, Calum Ritchie, Brayden Schenn, and Anthony Duclair listed as centers or wingers who play center.

Who is actually playing first line minutes with Barzal?"

[whistle] Okay, Mike, you're listing almost every forward who can touch a puck, but let's look at the realistic top six.

He needs a partner who can drive play.

Bo Horvat is the most obvious choice given his two-way game and experience.

But then you have Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who is a grinder, and Liam Foudy, who has skill.

I'd expect Barzal to start with Horvat or maybe Foudy to create a dynamic duo.

Their deadline last year, I understood the vision at the time because they were in the thick of playoff race and I thought Schenn could be better than he was, but they paid a high price for that.

They resigned Pageau, which instead of trading him, they traded for Palat.

It was just a very odd deadline that felt a bit shortsighted for what this team should be.

And I think when you see what Schaefer did in his first year, everything they do has to be in service of making sure this is a team that can contend in his prime.

Yep.

And this, this is gonna look like a different team fairly quickly as the guys, you already saw Lee leaving, but like Pageau, some of the guys that are long in the tooth.

I don't know-

Yeah