Today’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau trade is the ultimate bittersweet experience for the Ottawa Senators. On one hand, they watch another homegrown star, presumably one who wanted to be there long-term, leave for greener pastures and a franchise that isn’t owned by Scrooge McPuck. On the other, if a deal was not going to get done for Pageau to stay in Ottawa, GM Pierre Dorion received a massive haul.
And let’s dispense right now with the notion that Pageau will come back and sign with the Senators as an unrestricted free agent this summer. He won’t. Guys who get traded at the deadline never do that.