A familiar face has returned to Montreal, as the Canadiens have announced that they have acquired Kings forward Phillip Danault in exchange for the Blue Jackets’ 2026 second-round pick.
Los Angeles finds a new home for Danault, just an hour before the holiday roster freeze kicks in. The Kings had been examining trade options for the veteran middleman over the past few weeks amid one of the more difficult offensive stretches of his career. In 30 games this season, he’s yet to score a goal and has only mustered five assists.
Defensive acumen was always the highlight of the 32-year-old’s game, though. That hasn’t trailed off at all, with the 6’1″ pivot still managing a +3 rating in tough deployment despite the lack of offensive production going through him on the ice thus far. The paucity of goal-scoring also shouldn’t be conflated with a lack of trying. He’s averaging 2.93 shot attempts per game, slightly below his career average but far from a career-low.
The Kings were left with something of an excess of down-the-middle depth, too. Moving Quinton Byfield back to center had shifted Danault to a third-line role at even strength after shouldering duties as L.A.’s second-line center behind Anže Kopitar ever since his arrival in Hollywood in free agency in 2021. The Habs, who have long been looking to add an impact top-nine center as their rebuild draws to a close, were in even more dire need of help down the middle after losing center options Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook to injuries.
They won’t find the offensive needle-mover they were looking for in Danault, but he’s still a meaningful upgrade in the No. 2 slot behind captain Nick Suzuki over rookie Oliver Kapanen, at least in terms of two-way play. Assuming he is deployed there by head coach Martin St. Louis and gets extensive playing time with Calder Trophy candidate Ivan Demidov, Danault’s point production should come back alive.
Danault’s inclusion should also provide a meaningful boost to the Habs’ underlying numbers. Kapanen and Demidov have controlled 49.1% of expected goals with Newhook on their left flank and a horrid 38% with Juraj Slafkovsky in that slot at 5-on-5 this season. Danault hasn’t recorded a sub-50 xGF% since his rookie season, split between Chicago and Montreal back in 2015-16.
Aside from the obvious fit, as underscored by the Habs’ reported interest, it’s a feel-good story to reunite Montreal with its top center during their last deep playoff run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. That was the last of Danault’s six seasons in Montreal during his first run there, often used as their top-line anchor alongside Brendan Gallagher, including a career-high 41 assists in the 2018-19 season. He was top 10 in Selke Trophy voting in each of his final three seasons for the Habs and recorded 194 points in 360 games for them.
He’s now set to add to that total as the Habs only need to part ways with one of two second-rounders they were ticketed to hold in next year’s draft. They retain their own selection, parting ways with a pick they acquired from Columbus in the Patrik Laine deal.
The Kings won’t be enthused with the return. Danault is cost-controlled through next season at $5.5MM, and L.A. was hoping to make any trade a player-for-player swap rather than taking back futures. Nonetheless, it was becoming clear the Kings wanted a quick resolution, short of Danault outright asking for a trade, giving themselves time to flip the pick for a replacement on the other side of the roster freeze if they so choose.
PHR’s Josh Erickson contributed significantly to this article.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
First step in the long awaited rebuild.
Wow. Didn’t expect that would happen this quickly. Not a bad return, but I’ll miss him
Bad move, IMO. That’s a hefty cap hit for a shutdown third line centre, which they already have in Jake Evans. They needed a second line centre, not another bottom six forward. Unless they can move out guys like Laine and Dach, they don’t have the money to shore up their goaltending and finally get that second line centre.
At least Holland traded him out of the conference.
Danault is a defensive gem.
A 2nd for a 4th line center…..hahaha Why did he want out of Montreal the first time? Seems to be a pattern for this disgruntled whiner.
He’s not a fourth line center. He’s a 2 or 3. He’s plays great defense and wins faceoffs. His offensive numbers will pick up. Nobody in LA can score right now.
Habs didn’t want to pay market rate for a guy who fit a playoff team better than what they were at the time. Danault is still a Top Six forward when you look at his total game.
Couple that with the extra picks they have accumulated making this “overpay” easy to afford, the pattern appears to be your disgruntled whining
5 assists in this season is 4th line or AHL quality.
I would’ve expected a bit of salary retention for a 2nd rounder, hmmm. It’s a good addition for MTL but a pricey one at $5.5 for another season.
Marchment got a 2 and a 4 and doesn’t play c. Seems like the going rate
A 2nd round pick for a 4LC?…A bit steep. A 3rd round pick would have been more of equal value but Montreal was wanting Phillip Danault. But based on the metrics though, Montreal isn’t getting much with Danault. One could argue that Los Angeles might have gotten the better end of the deal.
Brilliant move by Kenny Holland granted that pic is gonna be middle to late in the second round but the scary thing is even though it’s a weak agent class the kings are gonna have almost $30 million in space to go shopping or make some trades let me ask you a question. Would you rather have a week prospect, pool and tons of cap space or a little bit of cap space in a deep prospect?
It’s the Blue Jackets 2nd rounder LA’s getting, so as it stands right now it’s the 40th overall pick. Brilliant move indeed.
Oh ok cool I thought it was Montreals pick. I stand corrected
Nice, seemed like the flu was BS! maybe we can somehow pry Ryan O’ Reilly away from Nashville.
A 2md to dump the contract is not bad. If Ken didn’t sign Ceci to that awful deal he’s done a half decent job
Clearly no one on here actually watches games … anyone who calls danault a career fourth liner or third liner just plain has no clue . He apart of one of the best first lines just 4 years ago when the habs made the finals.
Habs just can’t help themselves when a player with a French surname is available…
Steep price indeed… 5.5 million this year and next year for a guy who has no goals and five assist… Is defensive powers and his ability to take to draw as a left-handed centre will be a plus as well. It will help with PK and keep Suzuki away from defending the other team‘s top line… But the money is way too much for a guy in LA could not get out of town quick enough…
Kings are so poorly run these days. Their prospect pool is so suspect; their drafting and development have been pretty horrible. They don’t have a Stanley Cup roster at all, and they refuse to rebuild. This is going nowhere. I doubt they even use the pick they just got. They’ll trade it away for some player who doesn’t get them any closer to a Cup win by the deadline, and they’ll lose to Edmonton in the first round again. Rinse & Repeat.
VGK, EDM, ANA, SJS… Are you sure they are even making the playoffs?
You do remember 3 years ago they had the #2 ranked
Prospect pool in the league. Four of those players are major contributors to the team now and a 5th turned into Fiala. When you make the playoffs four straight years and draft low. That is what happens.
The Kings have an extra 2nd and 3rd round pick. 9.5 mill in space and 26 mill at the deadline. If they do not add any long term contracts they will have 31 million in space and hardly any RFA that will break the bank. They will be major players in the market. Granted the free agent in class sucks, but with that much space teams might be desperate to move contracts.
he’s only averaging 1:04 per on PK .. 11th on the kings .. expensive 5pt 32yr old .. whose best days may be behind him