Islanders 21-22 report card: Jean-Gabriel Pageau is still worth it

We're coming to the end of the New York Islanders forward report cards. Next up is the Isles third-line center and swiss-army-knife player Jean-Gabriel Pageau. How would you grade his 2021-22 season for the Islanders?

This is a continuation of the player-level report cards that we started this offseason. You can read the other ones here:
-Josh Bailey
-Mathew Barzal
-Anthony Beauvillier
-Kieffer Bellows
-Casey Cizikas
-Cal Clutterbuck
-Anders Lee
-Brock Nelson
-Matt Martin
-Kyle Palmieri
-New York Islanders (Team Level Report Card)

New York Islanders 21-22 report card: Jean-Gabriel Pageau

Offense: A-
Through 77 games, Pageau put up 18 goals and 39 points. Pace that out over a full 82 games and Pageau scores 42 points. That's peak Pageau. It's not the guy who was on pace to score nearly 60 points with the Ottawa Senators, but we all knew we weren't getting that guy.

If Pageau could produce at his actual peak, as in 40-50 points, the Isles would be getting good value from him. That's what we got from Pageau this year. Don't forget he only scored four points in his opening 17 games on the season. He deserves an A- considering he had that slow start to the year. Though I could be convinced I'm being a bit too harsh here.

Defense: B+
Pageau ended the year with a -0.11 5on5 relative xGA/60. That ranks him right in the middle of the Islanders' 20 forwards that skated in at least one game this season. A number of guys above him played a just handful of games so he technically ranks higher if you just consider the full-time Isles.

Considering how much Pageau is used defensively and the big matchups he has, doing that well, relative to the rest of his teammates is excellent.

Impact vs. Reliance: C-
This isn't going to go too well for Pageau. You probably already know that he was used a lot by the Islanders. As a center who plays a good number of 5on5 minutes and that plays on both special teams you know his TOI/G is up there. In fact, it's third for forwards...sorta.

He actually tied with Brock Nelson as the second most-utilized forward on the team with 17:40 of average ice-time per game. The Isles used Pageau a lot.

As you can imagine with his 39 points, his impact isn't going to match that. Even if average game score takes into account more than just production, points matter the most.

Pageau's 0.48 average game score is sixth on the team. Fifth if you take out Austin Czarnik and his eleven games. The reliance doesn't match the impact. It's not too far off though. And considering the hard and "thankless" minutes Pageau has to play, a C- seems fair to me.

Final Grade: B-
A C+ is a fair grade for what Pageau did this season. Like I said in the "Impact vs. Reliance" grade, Pageau plays a lot of "thankless" minutes. What he does isn't always captured on the stat sheet. But if anything, after a few years since the trade, it's clear it was worth it for the Isles to pick him up.