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.