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Senators deal Pageau to Islanders, Namestnikov to Avalanche for picks

Feb 24, 2020 | 9:04 AM

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators have traded pending unrestricted free-agent forwards Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Vladislav Namestnikov for draft picks.

Hours before the NHL’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline Monday, the rebuilding Senators dealt Pageau to the New York Islanders and sent Namestnikov to the Colorado Avalanche.

Pageau, Ottawa’s leading scorer this season with 40 points (24 goals, 16 assists) in 60 games, was considered one of the top players potentially available on the market. The Senators received a conditional first-round pick in 2020, a second-round selection in 2020 and a conditional third-rounder in 2022 for the Ottawa native.

The 2020 pick will slide to 2021 if it falls in the top-3 at June’s draft, while the third-round selection in 2022 will only be heading to the nation’s capital if the Islanders win the Stanley Cup this spring.

Meanwhile, the Senators scooped up a fourth-round pick from Colorado for Namestnikov.

A fourth-round selection by Ottawa (96th overall) in 2011, Pageau made his NHL debut during the 2012-13 season. He had 182 points (87 goals, 95 assists) in 428 games with the team.

The 27-year-old centre added 16 points in 35 playoff games, including eight goals and two assists in 2017 when Ottawa made it to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final. 

The club sent a fourth-round pick and minor-league defenceman Nick Ebert to the New York Rangers to acquire Namestnikov, 27, in October.

Ottawa (20-30-11) currently has the third-worst record in the league. But the Senators should have two lottery picks this year — their own and the one acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the Erik Karlsson trade in September 2018 — and could have as many as 14 selections, including eight in the first two rounds.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2020.

The Canadian Press