Discussing the Danault Deal

Just before last week’s trade freeze, the Habs jumped into the trade market, acquiring Phillip Danault from Los Angeles for Columbus’s 2026 second-round pick.  Our writers offer up their thoughts on the swap.

Terry Costaris: The Canadiens needed more centre depth for this highly compressed season. They also needed (and still need) more veteran depth scaffolding for their emerging young talent. The loss of veteran centre Christian Dvorak to free agency has impacted the Habs in both these areas.

Acquiring Danault helps in this regard. His underlying numbers are pretty much the same as they always have been – which are, for repetition’s sake, pretty good.

Danault will not be asked to be “the man” for the Canadiens, just a reliable, stable presence. He will be scaffolding both this year and next for Michael Hage.

Playing in Los Angeles has its perks, including a lovely Mediterranean climate, anonymity, and world-class cosmetic surgery – if that’s your jam.

Playing in Montreal, on the other hand, is a different kettle of fish. Yeah, the weather is not as nice, but there’s something to be said about being adored by the locals. Likewise, it sure feels good to play in an arena that crackles electricity.

Things for Danault will be very different this second go-round. Just the right pressure will be placed on him. He will play in an environment where hockey matters. Danault will not be coming back to the Marc Bergevin Canadiens, but a much more harmonious one helmed by Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes, and Martin St. Louis. He will be given the opportunity for a great swan song.

Yes, losing a second smarts a bit, but imagine what Montreal, in desperation, would have given up to land a higher-tier centre by the 2026 trade deadline or offseason. The Canadiens may have found themselves an out in terms of overpaying in trades and getting more value in future moves for their surplus prospects.

So, when all is said, this is a relatively low-risk move with Alexandre Carrier-like benefits.

The NHL’s ridiculously compressed schedule, due to the Olympics, could conceivably lead to four mid-tier teams going to the Stanley Cup Final. The top-tiered ones, with more injury-susceptible veteran cores and Olympics-worn-out players, could get knocked off very early – leaving unlikely mid-pack ones a greater chance of going all the way this season.

I’m not saying that this WILL happen. I’m just saying that the odds seem higher than in previous seasons. If such a perfect storm scenario plays itself out, maybe a “1993” will play itself out. The addition of a few more stabilizing veterans could put Montreal in further contention. We also have Stanley Cup drive quality pizza that Phillip Danault likes!

Hey! We’re all entitled to dream a bit!

Allan Katz: When I heard that Montreal might be interested in acquiring Danault, I was not enthusiastic. I felt his career had fallen off a cliff and he was officially burnt out. Now that the man is a Hab, I realized I was looking at the cup as half empty.

Here are the major issues plaguing the Habs this season;

1) The letting go of last year’s veteran core has resulted in an incredibly young team that at times seems rudderless, especially on defence.

2) Nick Suzuki needs help with his defensive responsibilities so he can put more energy into his offensive gifts.

3) Faceoffs have not been as big a problem as anticipated, but an elite faceoff man would change things to where it’s a team strength.

4) Team defence needs a leader.

5) Pizza.

6) The team timeline needs someone to fill a centre spot for this year and next.

7) Owen Beck could use a mentor.

8) If Jake Evans gets injured …

Danault checks off every box on this list. Offence is not an issue with this team at this time. So, is the cup half-empty or half-full? Perhaps it’s completely full, half water, half air. Translated as half-defence, half-leadership. Solid trade.

Brian La Rose: In a perfect world, the Habs would have landed a two-way centre who could plausibly push Kapanen off the second line.  The problem is that those are hard to acquire and few will actually move this season.  Maybe Ryan O’Reilly, Brayden Schenn, and Nazem Kadri, but those players would have asking prices starting with a first-round pick and more.  Going a tier below for Danault early does make some sense.

Danault checks a lot of boxes.  Defence, penalty killing, faceoffs, and even another veteran voice with playoff experience in the room, something this team could still use a bit more of as they emerge from the rebuild.  The price is a little high given his struggles but he’s a centre who has a decent track record and a pulse.  Considering how few middlemen actually move, the price is going to be high, even when buying low.  (There’s a reason so many teams, including Montreal, pursued David Kampf and tried to claim John Beecher off waivers; any sort of centre depth is in high demand.)

What concerns me a bit is the what-if factor.  What if a better fit actually becomes available closer to the trade deadline?  The second-round pick won’t make or break them from an offer perspective, but this has wiped out a lot of their cap flexibility which might take them out of the mix.  It even takes them out of the UFA market to an extent, as they have enough cap space to re-sign RFAs Kirby Dach, Zach Bolduc, and maybe Alexandre Texier (if they want to keep them).  (Yes, Patrik Laine is a pending UFA, but that money was spent on extensions to Lane Hutson and Mike Matheson.)  By the time they re-sign those RFAs, they’re largely capped out for 2026-27 as things stand.

There’s a viable case to be made here that it’s better to take the sure-fire bet (or at least as close as Danault is to one from a defensively reliable standpoint) over waiting for the mystery box, so to speak, on the chance that a better fit becomes available.  That’s the route they’ve chosen to take and it’s not necessarily a bad choice.  But I’m intrigued over the next few months to see if the more ideal fit goes elsewhere.

Kevin Leveille: The initial evaluation of this trade is relatively easy as Danault is a known commodity coming to Montreal with little term left on his deal. His salary is in line with Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson, and his production should be expected to mirror that of those two players. It hasn’t so far this season, but I think it’s reasonable to expect it to get there if the player is in a better mental space. For now, he’s a Dvorak replacement. And one the team absolutely needed on the defensive side of the puck. The cost was relatively cheap, so no one should be questioning the now of the deal.

Where I’m concerned with the deal is in three very specific areas. The first is fan expectation. The deal wasn’t an hour old when fans on social media were already calling for him to play between Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov which is absolutely not who Danault is or should be expected to be any more. Oliver Kapanen has more than proven himself in this role, and it would require a far more prominent offensive weapon than Danault to dislodge him at this point.

The second area of concern is Danault’s expectations in returning to Montreal. He initially left because he saw the writing on the wall that the team wanted him as a 3C. He’s now leaving LA under the same circumstances. Is he expecting to arrive in Montreal agreeing with the social media fans mentioned above? If so, how long until it hits the fan and it affects the room? I’m really hoping/expecting that due diligence was done and these discussions have taken place ahead of the acquisition here.

The last concern is a bit more medium-term, but it’s Danault blocking Beck. Beck has performed quite well in recent games and while no one would argue that the team wants Beck over Danault down the stretch this season, it is fair to wonder if it’s really fair to make Beck until the 27-28 season before he gets his next really shot at a bottom-six centre role in Montreal.

All in all, a great deal for now that creates the need for further movement in the not-so-distant future.

Peter Longo: On paper, the acquisition of Danault is likely the best move Hughes has made in his tenure. Even before Hughes arrived, the team was desperate for quality centres, and in his nearly four years, Hughes had done nothing to address this gaping hole in the lineup. (Suzuki and Evans are still the only quality centres and are holdovers from the previous GM).  While Danault is off to a terrible start this season, he has been nothing but consistent over his career, averaging over 0.5 pts/game while playing against All-Star-calibre opposition. Watching him contain Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (the top two players on the planet) over the last four playoffs is nothing short of best-in-class defensive play. If the Selke Trophy was truly awarded to defensive centres, Danault would be a perennial finalist. (It is difficult to determine what the Selke is based on given that Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner have been finalists in recent years. Do they even know where their end of the ice is?) To anyone suggesting Danault is too old or can’t play good hockey anymore, they clearly didn’t watch the playoffs. I fully expect Danault to bounce back to career-average performance.

Giving up a second-round pick for this type of centre is a no-brainer with little to no risk. Arguably, Danault and Suzuki would now be both top centres, just mirror images of each other. Both are good two-way centres with Suzuki excelling offensively and on the power play, while Danault excels defensively. Danault is now the team’s best in faceoffs and penalty kills, both areas of need for Montreal. But it will be interesting to see how he will be deployed. In his previous stint, he formed one of the best lines in the league with Gallagher and while not scoring at a high pace, they were possession and Corsi monsters in dominating and outscoring the opposition’s top lines. It was not your traditional top line, but it was one that worked exceptionally well. Perhaps Danault, Gallagher, and someone like Alexandre Texier or Zach Bolduc can try to recapture this magic. There are certainly plenty of options.

I’m not sure Danault will be happy with the trade given he chose to leave Montreal. If he wants out again, Hughes should have no problem flipping Danault for the same price he paid. Centres are, after all, in short supply. But if Danault can continue the strong play that he’s displayed over the course of his career, this could be the missing piece that brings stability and consistency that they have been desperately missing.

Paul MacLeod: As usual, Hughes and Gorton made an excellent deal and get a needed element for a reasonable price. In Danault, they acquire a much-needed veteran, left-shot centre.  Danault will add depth, improve the penalty kill, and ease Suzuki’s defensive responsibilities.

What I like is the way that this management team acts proactively to boost the team and does not overpay.

Richard Roy: This is a good acquisition for Montreal. Not one that we will remember as being a game changer when they become Cup contenders in two to three years or so, but at the cost they ended up paying, it is well worth making to make the team better immediately. Considering Evans’ injury following the day of the trade, one could suspect that Hughes had a divine vision of the future.

Danault wasn’t having a great year points-wise with the Kings, with only five assists in 30 games. That said, the Kings are not a scoring machine either, with only two players with more than 20 points compared to five for the Habs. In addition, he was playing with Warren Foegele and Trevor Moore exclusively this year, both having lacklustre seasons as well. Defensively though, the line was doing very well. It played more minutes than all three other lines by far, often matched up with the top opposing lines. The line was ranked fifth in the league for Expected Goals Against per 60 minutes (lines with more than 100 minutes played together), tied with the Suzuki-Caufield-Slafkovsky line.

Danault’s presence will enable St-Louis to put together a shutdown line capable of playing against the opposing top line as efficiently (and maybe more) as his own top line. The impact could give more offence to his top scorers and also take away some of the defensive responsibility from Suzuki who has been showing signs of fatigue as of late.

This could easily be one of those depth trades similar to Carrier last year, that stabilizes the roster and puts everyone in a much better place on the ice.

Norm Szcyrek: I have been advocating for Montreal to trade for Danault during recent HabsWorld podcasts.  I know he has not scored a goal so far but the Habs need his defensive game more than his offence. That especially applies to supporting the Canadiens defenceman during an opponent’s forward attack.  His faceoff winning percentage is still good and he’s a left shot which will help the team, since they only have Joe Veleno in that category.  I believe he will help on the penalty killing too, which should give Suzuki some relief in that role.

David Woodward: The Canadiens have had problems defending and killing penalties all season.  They also have three right-shot centres in Jake Evans, Nick Suzuki, and Oliver Kapanen.  Danault, a left-shot centre who can kill penalties, has been an elite defender throughout his career, garnering Selke votes annually.  Obviously, with his past experience in Montreal, he fits in well with the group.

That’s the good news.  In past seasons, Danault has contributed offensively both in Montreal and LA, topping out at 27 goals one year and 54 points the following year with the Kings.  This year, Danault’s offence has stalled, registering only five points (all assists).  While his ice time has declined from prior years, he is still averaging sixteen minutes per game, so the lack of offence is concerning.  That said, he begins most shifts in his own zone and remains at plus-three while being matched up against the opposition’s best offensive players.

In the deal, the Habs take on Danault’s full salary ($5.5 Million) and also moved the second-round pick obtained from Columbus in the Patrik Laine-Jordan Harris trade.  That is a heavy price for a forward who has yet to score a goal this season.

However, even without material offensive contributions, Danault brings a lot to the team.  His defence is elite, he can kill penalties, and the youngest team in the NHL can use a veteran left-shot centre that will provide some mentorship to a talented but inexperienced forward group.  The deal also could help Gallagher find his game.  Danault and Gallagher (along with Tomas Tatar) formed one of the best five-on-five lines in the NHL during Danault’s first tour of duty in Montreal.  Perhaps they can rekindle some of that chemistry this season.  This scribbler thinks it’s unlikely that Danault’s offensive slump will last the entire season and the reunion with Gallagher may help both players.

Danault’s age and contract may also fit with the Habs’ timelines.  He may well act as a bridge at the centre position until Hage or another prospect is ready to take on the role of either a second or third-line centre as the Canadiens emerge as serious contenders.

The deal reaffirms that the asset accumulation phase of the rebuild is over.  The Habs are clearly willing to cash in future assets to help the team now.  It’s an open question whether this management team is doing so too early.  With the Noah Dobson and Danault deals, Hughes and Gorton have shown that the team will arguably overpay and/or take on salary to improve the team over the next couple seasons, even if it means sacrificing draft capital, prospects, or future cap flexibility.