Montreal Canadiens centerman Phillip Danault will be playing the last year of his six-year, $5.5 million cap-hit contract this season, and by the time the campaign ends, he will be 34 years old. The veteran struggled mightily in a diminished role last season with the Los Angeles Kings and looked like a shadow of himself when Kent Hughes repatriated him. The move was a godsend for the pivot, who had only put up five assists in 30 games in LA; he added six goals and as many assists in 45 regular-season games with the Habs.
However, it wasn’t for his offensive production that Hughes decided to get the forward back; it was for his responsible two-way game and his knack for winning faceoffs. Danault felt he didn’t have Jim Hiller’s trust in LA, and that hurt him; he was quick to point out that the trust Martin St-Louis put in him in Montreal was a game-changer. The Victoriaville native rewarded that trust handsomely in the playoffs.
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Whenever there was a lead to protect, St-Louis would deploy both Nick Suzuki and Danault on the ice, giving himself centers to take faceoffs, one lefty and one righty, a great card to have up your sleeve. In those 19 playoff games, Danault not only put up two goals and eight assists for 10 points, but he also kept at a 58.4% success rate at the faceoff dot.
What can we expect from Danault this season? More of the same, really. He knows he’s no longer a top-six option, and he both embraces and takes pride in his role as a shutdown center. Speaking to Danault at the tail end of the season, it was evident that he was impressed by what Hughes, Jeff Gorton and Martin St-Louis have put together in Montreal, and there is little doubt that he’ll be interested in seeing it through.
12 years into the NHL season, the NHL veteran has yet to win a Stanley Cup. In the four years he made the playoffs with the Kings, they crashed out in the first round (having the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid in your division will do that to you), and this past season in Montreal, he got yet another taste of a deep run after making the Final with the Habs in 2021.
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Once again this season, the Habs will be one of the youngest teams in the league, and Danault’s veteran presence will once again be very useful, especially since the Habs are very light in left-shot centers. Nick Suzuki, Oliver Kapanen, Jake Evans and even Michael Hage are all right-shots. If Danault wants to keep playing beyond this season, it feels like there could still be room for him in Montreal, especially with his specialized skill set. This season will be an audition for the veteran, a chance to show that he can still play an important role on the team and that the younger centers’ progression has not yet caught up to him.
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