PAGEAU ‘JUST EXCITED TO BE BACK ON THE ICE’
He’s one of two former Senators prepping for NHL playoffs at Minto Skating Centre
It still looks strange, seeing
Jean- Gabriel Pageau in the white, orange and blue of the New York Islanders and Cody Ceci sporting the navy blue of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
There they were all decked out on Friday, though, returning to the ice for the first time in 12 weeks as the Minto Skating Centre reopened its doors to professional hockey players and elite figure skaters.
Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers and Calvin de Haan of the Chicago Blackhawks were also among those who skated.
The NHL playoffs are still a long way away — training camps are expected to open in early July, with the spectator-free, 24-team playoff in two still undisclosed locations likely beginning later that month — but there was no hiding the enthusiasm about some form of summer post-hockey.
“I’m just excited to be back on the ice,” Pageau said before stepping into the arena. “It’s a step forward and just to be out on the ice will feel good.”
Pageau, who was traded to the Islanders from the Ottawa Senators for a first-round draft pick at the trade deadline in February, has been working out at home in Gatineau ever since racing home from New York when pandemic concerns shut down the NHL on March 12. When it comes to reaching game shape, however, there’s no substitute for practicing with the blades on.
With a playoff series against the Florida Panthers looming, Pageau has no complaints about the structure of the 24-team playoff.
“It’s the playoffs,” he said. “Everyone loves to play in the playoffs and that’s the goal of the team when you start the season, so just to have that chance is great.”
While countless details remain, including the process toward resuming action and how players will be tested before and after the games start, Pageau trusts that the correct decisions will be made along the way. He was scheduled to be on some phone calls later Friday.
“I believe the authorities will always take the right decisions and that the (NHLPA) and everyone will push in the same direction at the right time,” he said. “Right now, I think everyone is going to be careful.”
Pageau has a history of being a playoff star. In 35 games with the Senators, he scored 12 goals and four assists. That includes his four-goal outburst, including the double-overtime game winner, against the New York Rangers in the second round of the 2017 playoffs. Pageau also scored a hat trick against the Montreal Canadiens in 2013.
By returning to the Islanders for the playoffs, he will receive an opportunity to re-set himself. He has yet to taste a victory in Islanders colours.
Following his trade from the Senators, the Islanders went 0-34, sliding down to the standings to the point where they were in the danger of missing out on the post-season altogether.
“It’s hard to know what would have happened,” Pageau said of the slump. “In my view, we would have made it. I really believed in my teammates. For being there for such a short period of time, they’ve gained my confidence already. Not only the players, but the whole organization. I’m excited just to go back to New York, but I don’t know when exactly.”
Cody Ceci didn’t have too many concrete answers about the fine details of what lies ahead, but he was only too happy to be fielding questions Friday about summer playoff hockey.
Following a so-so season with the Toronto Maple Leafs after being acquired in last summer’s swap from the Senators — Connor Brown and Nikita Zaitsev went the other way — Ceci is pumped about stepping into the big-time post-season spotlight.
“It’s different, but I think they came up with a pretty good solution,” said Ceci, who skated at Ottawa’s privately-owned Minto Skating Centre on Friday. “It’s pretty fair for everyone across the league.”
The start of the post-season could be seven or eight weeks away, but Ceci already has given some thought to facing the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round.
“They had a lot of guys injured this year and we did, too,” he said. “Now that we’ve all had time to get everyone back in shape, I think it will be a good series, with full lineups.”
Ceci recognizes that if the Maple Leafs have an extended run, he could be quarantined in a hotel for as long as two months, but he hasn’t got ahead of himself worried about all the what ifs. At this point, he’s just thrilled to be able to start on the process towards playing again.
“It has all kind of evolved in the past week, so I haven’t thought about it too, too much,” he said. “I think we’ll take it one step at a time and I will head back to Toronto for Phase 2 (of reopening) and start skating there. I just want to try and get back into a routine and get on the ice a little more. From there, I’m sure we’ll all talk about Phase 3.”
As for the notion that the top eight teams have a colossal edge in a long run to the Stanley Cup because they own a first-round bye, Ceci isn’t so sure.
“They will wait a little bit to ramp up the intensity and we will be in battle mode already, but it is nice to get that bye and get further in the playoffs right away,” he said. “I don’t know who really has the advantage there, but maybe playing fewer games could help them out.” kwarren@postmedia.com Twitter.com/Citizenkwarren