Montreal Canadiens: What If Marc Bergevin Goes All-In This Season?

J.G. Pageau

The Canadiens have a plethora of options at center already, but aren’t getting a lot of production at the moment. They will certainly keep Phillip Danault between Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher. After that they have Max Domi but he is struggling to put up points. There is Jesperi Kotkaniemi but he has only five points in 21 games. Nate Thompson has one goal and eight points in 28 games.

That is why an upgrade at center wouldn’t be a bad idea for a team looking to go “all-in.” The perfect fit would be Jean-Gabriel Pageau of the Ottawa Senators. Pageau is leading the Senators with 15 goals and 21 points in 28 games and is an excellent penalty killer as well.

The 27 year old is a pending unrestricted free agent and would be a rental for the Habs. He could come in near the trade deadline and play anywhere from second to fourth line center, depending on how much offence he continues to bring. Ideally, Pageau would just replace Thompson on the fourth line, providing much more scoring and just as much of a defensive presence.

However, if Kotkaniemi is still averaging a point every four games at that time, Pageau could center a third line and move the youngster down the lineup.

Pageau set career highs in goals and points in 2016-17 when he scored 19 goals and 43 points. He is on pace to shatter those highs this season, but wouldn’t come at a huge price like Matt Duchene or Mark Stone last season. He’d be closer to the Ryan Dzingel value.