Nobody is knocking Pageau off the team. He is exactly what you want in a bottom six player, and it's pretty clear that management loves him as well. I have no idea why anyone would be anxious to get rid of him. He's the type of player you win with.
people love to jump to conclusions of their own making. My point is that IMO only, I think that Lazar & Paul are much more likely to play centre for this team in the very near future over Pageau. I'm not anxious to get rid of anyone, it's just an opinion & while I agree he is a pretty good little player I think we have better centres in the organization who are very close to taking a centre roster spot. Both Lazar & Paul IMO are going to be better centres than Pageau.
I doubt Pageau is going anywhere, between Prince, Puempel, Paul and the other Bingo guys I think it's safe to say that the team will get one decent NHLer (top 9 fwd or top 5 dman) either straight out of camp or at some point during the season. Two if we're lucky and I wouldn't expect any more than that. It's easy to get excited about players on the verge, but most teams probably have 3-4 guys that look like they will challenge for a roster spot every year. Very few of them become regulars and even fewer become impact players. For every Stone/Hoffman there will be several career Greening/Smith types and even more O'Brien/Lee/Daugavins/Zubov/Kaigorodov/Peterssons.
Agreed, there are a lot of Greenings & Smith in the organization, lots. But there are also a couple of gems & IMO Lazar, Paul, Lindberg, O'Connor & maybe Harpur could all be gems. Paul in particular IMO has the potential to be much more than a 4th line centre but could work his way up to be the #1 centre at some point in his career. No one is talking about Robinson on here but I often hear the organization talking about him & how close he is to being in the NHL, same for Puempel.
I'd be delighted if Paul bumped Smith out of the lineup at 4C, and not because I don't like Zack Smith.
Agreed, but Paul is good enough to start at 3rd line centre too & then move up from there. I doubt that anyone knocks Pageau out of the lineup this yr but my guess is that Pageua may be expendable, if both Lazar & Paul develop into top 9 players & centres over the next two yrs. Zibanejad, Turris/Lazar, Paul, Smith down the middle could assure some size & strength down the middle for yrs. I know some people don't like Smith & Ottawa could certainly upgrade the 4th line centre through trade which would be easier & cheaper to replace but Smith can play a very effective role as a 4th line centre for Ottawa.
When is the last time Prince played center? Im guessing some time as a teenager
