The one Islander who will have benefited most from the break during the season

The New York Islanders, and the rest of the other 23 teams who will participate in the 24-team playoff, now know they’re officially back.

This morning, Isles g.m. Lou Lamoriello told reporters that the team will open its training facility back up on Monday, this beginning Phase 2 of the league’s Return to Play program.

”We have satisfied all protocols,” Lamoriello added on a Friday conference call, referring to the extensive list of requirements established last week by the NHL/NHLPA. “We’ve checked all the boxes.

The latest development was to be heard expected but is still exciting not just for the fans and coaches, but the players as well. Several of the club’s key guys who were injured prior to the season being suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak — Adam Pelech, Casey Cizikas, Johnny Boychuk — will all be back and ready to go. For the players who weren’t dealing with any ailments but had been maybe feeling the effects of the grind of an 82-game season, they should feel fresh and re-energized, as they were basically given another offseason in a sense.

But if there’s one guy, in particular, who will have benefited the most from the long hiatus, it’s J.G. Pageau.

I’m sure you’re asking yourselves, why Pageau over someone like Pelech — he’s coming back from a season-ending Achilles injury — or Cizikas or Boychuk (skate cuts), or even Mathew Barzal? Well, there are a few things to account for when it comes to the Quebec native.

Pageau, after the Islanders traded for him at the deadline in late February, only got to suit up in a handful of games with his new team. The pressure was on him to perform immediately and give the Islanders one of the missing ingredients they were lacking all season — a third-line center. And it’s not to say Pageau didn’t get off to a good start — he scored twice in his first two games — but there’s still a learning curve when it comes to head coach Barry Trotz’s system.

Trotz pointed out last week that having he and d-man Andy Greene getting in a full training camp of sorts will help both individually and the team as a whole.

The break will have also helped Pageau mentally.

Getting traded in season, there comes a lot of things off the ice that are in the back of a players’ mind (finding a place, getting settled, etc.). Pageau explained such when he chatted with the NHL Network a month ago. But with not having played a game in three months, the 27-year-old should have all his bearings in order, which will allow him to be dialed in on his game entirely.

Pageau is known to be a playoff performer, so this kind of break and knowing he’s on a club that has something to play for again will have motivated him to elevate his game from regular season to playoff mode.

The last appearance for Pageau in the postseason was in 2017 with the Senators, who made a shocking run to Eastern Conference Finals. That spring was only the second time Pageau experienced playoff hockey, and he played some of the best hockey of his career (eight goals in 19 games).

Again, that might not sound like a long time, but for any NHL player, being out of the playoffs for that long, the fire and passion is definitely burning inside.

J.G. Pageau hasn’t experienced a victory yet as a part of the Islanders; they were 0-4-3 since his arrival. All of that is now in the past. A new season is set to begin.

What that means for the Isles is they will now get to see why they traded for Pageau and signed him for the long haul.

And they can thank the break for allowing that to happen.