Rumours: Montreal Canadiens are checking the trade market on Phillip Danault

Phillip Danault saw his role change with the Montreal Canadiens, and with a pending contract, the team is looking at the trade market for him.

With the Montreal Canadiens heading into the 2020-21 season, a number of changes are coming. The most important one may be on their go-to top line of Phillip Danault, Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher as all three of them will be pending unrestricted free agents. In another time, you could guarantee both of Danault and Gallagher extended by the end of the year, but things change.

Danault had some interesting quotes after the Habs were eliminated from the playoffs by the Philadelphia Flyers. Many who watched him progress and grow into the centre that he is still had the firm belief that he was a third-line centre on a good team. That analysis became a reality towards the end of the series as Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi were played ahead of him.

Suzuki got Tatar and Gallagher before he was injured, while Danault was used in a shutdown role with Artturi Lehkonen and Paul Byron. Even though the Montreal Canadiens wound up losing, it was clear Suzuki and Kotkaniemi were pushing their way through to being the 1 and 2 on the team.

Danault’s thoughts on the situation were made public after the series stating that he wasn’t pleased with the way his role changed and that it would impact his desire to stay with the Canadiens long-term.

That’s a problem.

Promising Danault, his spot would take away from the growth and progression of Suzuki and Danault. And if they’re improvement as number one and two centres respectively come at the cost of moving Danault, I think that’s an avenue the Montreal Canadiens need to explore. According to Elliotte Friedman, however, it appears that the Habs have already started to.

Friedman was on WGR 550 radio and revealed that Danault’s name is out there. This isn’t for a bonafide trade, but it is to inquire on what his value is on the market. Aside from not being happy with a third-line centre role, another thing that could see Danault move on is his next contract.

Danault went from his entry-level deal initially signed with the Chicago Blackhawks to a two-year bridge worth $912,500 each with the Montreal Canadiens, to another bridge this time at $3,083,333 for three years. The 27-year-old is going to consider this his big payday, and the Habs may not want to give him what he’ll demand: likely a long-term deal at relatively high cap-hit.

Because of that, Friedman thinks the Habs may instead move Danault and keep Max Domi, who they have repeatedly said they see as a centre.

Nothing is confirmed, and for now, it’s all speculation. However, the Montreal Canadiens trading Phillip Danault makes a lot of sense given how things are changing on the roster and the future contract he’ll demand next summer.