If Islanders can re-sign Jean-Gabriel Pageau, it would benefit Simon Holmstrom

 WINNIPEG, Manitoba

Mathieu Darche should consider re-signing Jean-Gabriel Pageau a two-for-one purchase.

To get the best out of Simon Holmstrom, the Islanders need Pageau. And vice versa.

The Islanders’ general manager still has time to negotiate as Pageau, the 33-year-old versatile center/penalty-killer, plays out the final season of his six-year, $30 million deal. And Darche said he would be comfortable keeping Pageau past the March 6 trade deadline even without an extension worked out, with the free-agent market not opening until July 1.

But when Holmstrom has a three-point game, as he did in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime win in Minnesota — honestly, without Holmstrom’s two goals, including the winner, and Ilya Sorokin’s 33 saves, the Wild likely would have won by a wide margin — it’s easy to see the value of retaining Pageau to make Holmstrom the best player he can be.

“I think we’ve had pretty good chemistry from the start,” said Holmstrom, who has 12 goals and 11 assists in 44 games with a chance to top the career highs of 20 goals and 45 points he had last season.

“I’ve been playing with him, for the most part, for four years now. We really like each other outside the ice as well. We joke around a lot. Hang out. It makes things easier. It’s just something that’s clicked. He’s super-reliable defensively. He takes a lot of responsibility in the defensive zone and talks a lot out there.”

Holmstrom, who set up Casey Cizikas’ tying shorthanded goal against the Wild, is in the first season of a two-year, $7.25 million deal that will leave him as a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in 2027. Pageau is unlikely to accept a one-year deal as a pending unrestricted free agent, so Darche will have to map out how to best align the two, and for how long.

Eventually, Holmstrom will not have the luxury of playing with Pageau. But keeping them together should be a priority for the Islanders’ immediate future.

“He really plays well with Pager,” coach Patrick Roy said when asked about Holmstrom’s level of consistency after Monday’s practice at Canada Life Centre before the Islanders face the Jets on Tuesday night.

Pageau again will center a third line, with Holmstrom and rookie Max Shabanov on his wings.

“It started before I put [Holmstrom] with Pager because he had some really good games with Barzy [Mathew Barzal] and Anders [Lee],” Roy said. “I really love the way he holds on to the puck. How he’s coming back. The positioning in the defensive zone. Offensively, he started to shoot the puck with more confidence.”

Roy then was asked if he had given deep thought to why Holmstrom and Pageau work so well together.

“First of all, they play on the penalty kill together,” Roy said. “So they’re probably creating that bonding right there. Their game is pretty much the same, players that play the 200-foot game. They’ve got to come back. They’ve got to help defensively. For some reason, it has worked really well.”

Pageau noted Holmstrom’s raised confidence in taking shots and said his linemate has improved the way he skates with the puck.

“He’s kind of doing it all and I feel like he takes a step forward every day,” Pageau said. “I feel like not only is he a big part of our team but, like the last game, he was our best player. He can take charge of a game.

“He definitely makes the player he’s playing with better. We chat a lot after almost every shift, where we could have been, what could we have done better. And we seem to be on the same page.”

Pageau’s value to the Islanders can’t be overlooked, either. He’s not a prolific scorer, with seven goals and 10 assists in 37 games, but Roy has been able to use him for short stretches as a top-six center or wing, and he and Holmstrom do look to attack as a penalty-killing tandem.

Each player elevates the other.

“Yeah, almost, I think so,” Anders Lee said. “They’re both amazing individually. But you throw them together and something else comes out, that’s for sure.”

Two for one.

Which is why it behooves Darche to re-sign Pageau.