Montreal Canadiens: Is Phillip Danault’s Value Going Up or Down on Playoff Run?

Montreal Canadiens centre Phillip Danault was the team’s number one centre for a number of years. This was more by default as his only competition for a while was David Desharnais, Lars Eller and wingers Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin.

Recently, the Habs have added a few more intriguing options like Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Still, Danault plays a prominent role and was part of a terrific two-way line with Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher for the third consecutive season.

All three of those players were scheduled to be unrestricted free agents at the end of this season. Gallagher settled early and signed an extension last summer that will keep him in town for a long time. Tatar struggled late this season and has been scratched most of the playoffs which will likely spell the end of his Habs tenure.

But what to do with Phillip Danault? He still plays big minutes, though Artturi Lehkonen and Jake Evans have taken turns replacing Tatar on that line. No matter who plays the left side, the line anchored by Danault and Gallagher has been one that keeps tough opposition off the scoreboard and finds the back of the net often enough itself.

The problem with finding value for Danault is, he is rarely the one putting the puck in the net, far more often is not even getting assists, yet he may be better defensively than he has ever been.

With time winding down before he hits free agency, this playoff run has made it more difficult than ever to find out what his value is right now.

You see, on the one hand, Danault deservedly earned praise for keeping the Maple Leafs combination of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner to a total of one goal in the first round. He was also a big reason snipers Kyle Connor and Nik Ehlers were pretty quiet in the second round.

On the other hand, he plays with Gallagher, one of the team’s best goal scorers every night, and he has zero goals and two assists in 12 postseason games. This isn’t a new phenomena either, as Danault scored just five goals in 53 regular season games, and one in ten playoff games in 2020.

He reached a career high in goals with 13 in 2019-20 and he topped out at 53 points the year before. That was before the Canadiens have Suzuki and Kotkaniemi on the power play, and were using Danault with Tatar and Gallagher on the man advantage.

So, next season, you’d be foolish to bet he scores more than ten goals or 40 points.

However, you might also be quite foolish to expect the team to win a playoff series without him shutting down the other team’s best player.

So, what is Danault’s value going forward? This postseason is firmly establishing that he offers little to no offence, but he is terrific defensively.

Should he make any more than Adam Lowry, who just re-signed with the Winnipeg Jets for $3.25 million over the next five years? The big Jets centre had ten goals and 24 points in 52 games this season, matching Danault’s point total in one less game. Lowry isn’t going to shut down another team’s top player quite the same way Danault has, but he is a gifted defensive pivot.

Radek Faksa had a good run with the Dallas Stars in last year’s playoffs, playing a defensive role but also chipping in with three goals and eight points in 19 postseason games. He signed the exact same contract as Lowry, earning $3.25 million per year for the next five years.

Is Danault worth more or less than Anthony Cirelli? The Tampa Bay Lightning centre signed a three year deal worth $4.8 million per year after playing a terrific defensive game for the Bolts and scoring 44 points in 68 games last season. He helped them win the Stanley Cup by playing a stifling defensive game and scoring three goals and nine points in 25 games.

Danault probably comes in behind Cirelli, but his ability to keep Matthews, Marner, Connor and Ehlers from going off offensively likely puts him ahead of Lowry and Faksa.

Though Danault has now proven his role is far more defensive than offensive, he is a key piece to the Canadiens and their current playoff run, and should sign a four or five year deal with a cap hit somewhere between $4 and $4.5 million.

The only question left is, will that be with the Canadiens? I’d like to think so, but it might be difficult to come to terms where he will believe his value should be even higher as he played a key role in this run, but his complete lack of offence means the team will put a lower ceiling on that value.