Montreal Canadiens: Extending Phillip Danault is priority number one

The Montreal Canadiens have a set of restricted free agents that need to be re-signed, and Phillip Danault should be the first name off of that list.

Last season’s objective as far as contract signings was pretty clear for the Montreal Canadiens. Although they had other unrestricted free agents in need of a new deal, locking up Carey Price long-term was something Marc Bergevin and the rest of the organization had at the top of their priority list. Alexander Radulov and Andrei Markov were no-gos, but taking care of Price then instead of having to do it now saved management some hours in a negotiation room.

The Montreal Canadiens don’t have any marquee UFAs that absolutely have to be brought back, except for maybe Antti Niemi, but the RFA list is different. In total, there are 11 of them on the team’s payroll. There will have to be some decisions made as to who of the 11 should be qualified and eventually given a contract. But that has to start with Phillip Danault.

Danault was the product of Dale Weise and professional tryout turned moderate contributor Tomas Fleischmann. The Chicago Blackhawks seemed willing to part with the then 22-year-old despite his ability to kill penalties. What made him expendable at the time was his lack of offensive output which showed in his point totals that season.

However, Danault took a step forward in that department in the 2016-17 season with 13 goals and 27 assists playing with the likes of Radulov and Max Pacioretty for stretches of the year. Concussion-like syndromes cut the young centre’s season short after taking a Zdeno Chara slap shot to the back of the head.

Danault put up 8 goals and 17 assists in 52 games for the Montreal Canadiens which averaged over an entire season, would have him finish with about 39 points. At the same time, his shorthanded play and defensive effectiveness took a step in the right direction. Is he a number one centre? No, but Danault has proven that he has the ability to be a decent number two or very good and reliable number three one day.

Sign on the Dotted Line

The amount of money centres in the NHL make has been increasing over the years. Generally, teams have their number making around $8 million or more while numbers two get anywhere between $5 and $7 million. It wouldn’t be crazy to see Danault end up having something with a three in it, and perhaps even a $3.5 million cap-hit if his agent is looking for an extra layer.

Comparisons are going to be important seeing as this is an RFA signing. According to Capfriendly, Radek Faska, Andrew Copp, Ryan Dzingel, Ryan Spooner, Zemgus Girgensons, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, are all centres close to Danault’s age who were signed by their respective teams since July of 2017. Of all of them, Pageau seems to be the closest comparable as far as offensive production and usage.

Pageau finished the year with 14 goals and 15 assists in 78 games with the Ottawa Senators in a primarily defensive position. In fact, it was his play away from the puck that had him named to Team Canada’s World Hockey Championship team in Denmark over a player like Jonathan Drouin. Looking at his past numbers, there is more offence in Pageau than in Danault seeing as he had a 19-goal year in the 2015-16 season.

The Senators ended up signing him to a three-year contract that had him making $3.1 million annually. Bergevin may make that number his maximum and could even have Danault’s AAV decrease with more term added to the contract. Perhaps a six-year deal with a $2.85 million cap-hit does the trick.

At the same time, Danault’s camp can have the belief that his best years are ahead of him. In a full injury-free NHL season, that 40-point total may be exceeded, but it’s still a guessing game.

Next: Habs Set Up to Have Their Best Draft

It’ll be an interesting set of meetings and discussions between the two representative groups, but there’s no doubt that signing Danault long-term is a priority for the Montreal Canadiens.

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