The Montreal Canadiens have acquired forward Phillip Danault in exchange for a 2026 2nd round pick in a deal Friday night with the Los Angeles Kings.
The pick, which originally belonged to Columbus, reunites Danault with the team he spent 6 seasons with between 2016-2021. The 32 year old is in the 5th year of a 6 year, $33M contract, and will count for $5.5M against this cap this season and next.
Known as a strong two way, bottom six forward, Danault currently has 5 points (0G, 5A) across 30 games this year with LA. He had seen his ice time drop out west, as he began to fall out of favour with head coach Jim Hiller, leading many to speculate that he could be dealt in the lead up to the NHL trade deadline.
“What we’re hoping he’s going to bring is experience,” Hughes told reporters Saturday morning. “He’s been here before. I think people in this market know what he is as a hockey player.”
“We don’t think the season he’s having right now is indicative of the quality of the player that he is, and we’re hoping coming back here in Montreal he’s reenergized and regains the form he had here in Montreal and L.A. before that.”
The former 1st round pick has eclipsed the 50 point mark three times throughout his career. However Habs fans will likely be content if he can help stabilize the team’s penalty kill which currently ranks 25th in the league at 77.3%, and add some veteran leadership to the locker room.
Montreal was able to add Danault prior to the NHL roster freeze at midnight on Friday, which will be in effect until December 28th. Up next for the Canadiens is a Saturday night showdown against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.