Well, it’s official. Philip Danault is no longer a member of the Montreal Canadiens. After weeks of speculation in the aftermath of the Canadiens magical 2021 run to the Stanley Cup Finals, the long-time top defensive center has signed with the Los Angeles Kings, on a six-year deal worth $5.5 million AAV.
Just as quickly as Canadiens fans watched Danault cheers his pizza to journalists and shut down NHL star after NHL star in the post-season, so too has the three-time 40-point centreman taken his services across the border to LA. Shortly after the Canadiens had picked up David Savard, Cedric Paquette and Chris Wideman earlier on Wednesday, the team picked up yet another center in AHL farmhand Jean-Sebastien Dea, on a one-year deal worth $750 K, though I doubt he’ll be able to replace what Danault brought to Montreal.
A former 26th overall pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2011, Danault became a long-term project for the Hawks that produced little results at both the NHL and AHL levels. With GM Stan Bowman looking to gear up for another playoff run in the 2015-16 season, Danault ultimately became expendable, being dealt to the Canadiens, along with a second-round pick in 2018, in exchange for bottom-six regulars in Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann.
I think it’s fair to say this trade didn’t work out too well for Chicago, as Weise and Fleischmann played just 34 games combined for the Hawks before their careers quickly fizzled out through overpaid contracts and failed physicals. Montreal, on the other hand, managed to turn Danault into the top-six defensive center he had never been with the Hawks, whilst simultaneously picking up top prospect Alexander Romanov with that second-round pick.
In spite of seeing limited playoff action in Montreal as the team struggled through up and down stretches, Danault was a consistent competitor and at times solid offensive contributor, with career highs of 12-41 53 totals over 81 games in the 2018-19 season. While he struggled over the regular season in 2020-21 with some lengthy goal droughts and overall lack of offence, his defensive abilities proved invaluable to the Canadiens in their playoff run, and now Kings fans should hope he can bring those same qualities to LA.
Philip Danault has officially left the Montreal Canadiens organization, signing a six-year, $5.5 million AAV deal on Wednesday.
Danault’s contract marks just one of many instances so far in free agency of non-competitive/rebuilding teams paying out the nose for proven stars, like Dougie Hamilton’s move to the New Jersey Devils. While the terms for Danault aren’t that far off from his previous three-year bridge deal in Montreal (worth $3.083 million AAV) I still feel as though LA slightly overpaid for the perennial Selke Trophy contender.
While Danault has proven himself as one of the NHL’s better defensive forwards, he’s unreliable offensively and has shown to struggle further when his linemates aren’t able to back him up through his dry spells, as was the case with Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Tatar this past season. Given that offence was the Kings’ biggest issue last season (among many) and that many of their top prospects have yet to get significant minutes in the NHL, it will be interesting to see how Danault performs offensively.
In other news, (though, not an in other news… post) the Canadiens have picked up a center of their own, in longtime AHL farmhand Jean-Sebastien Dea. A former product of the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, Dea has bounced between the NHL and AHL since making his professional debut in 2013-14, having spent the past two seasons as a member of the Buffalo Sabres organization. In between a brief 20-game stint with the Devils in 2018-19, Dea has mainly been a top-six fixture in the AHL, and a reliable and proven one at that.
While he managed only 15 games with the Rochester Americans this past season, producing 6-9-15 totals, he did see one game on the Sabres first line as the team found themselves mired in a baffling 18-game winless drought. Being signed for league minimum on a team rife with depth up the middle (even with Danault’s departure) it’s unlikely Dea will see significant ice time in Montreal, if any, but it remains to be seen.
Should he spend the entirety of 2021-22 in Laval, look for the Laval native to be a top offensive contributor for the team and a perfect complement to similarly proven AHL options like Joseph Blandisi. In what has been a busy start to the 2021 Free Agency period, the Canadiens have similarly experienced their own losses and additions, and it looks like things are far from over, in what should be a busy 2021 off-season, for the Montreal Canadiens.
More developments will be posted here at A Winning Habit as they come.