Phillip Danault had not started this season as well as he wanted; in fact it was the worst start of his career. With zero goals and just five assists through 30 games played, and a reduced role on penalties due to the signing of Joel Armia (who was great on the PK), Danault quickly became a player who didn’t bring much to the table.
He was struggling, and it was clear to see on the ice. Little impact, he went through the motions and ultimately didn’t produce enough to justify the $5.5 million salary he earned. About six days ago, RG Media’s Marco D’Amico reported that Danault had requested a trade and that his camp hoped a deal would be completed before the roster freeze.
Just before the roster freeze, Kings general manager Ken Holland has completed a deal. Danault was traded back to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 2026 second-round pick.
The Kings were looking for a player-for-player trade, but ultimately settled on a draft pick.
Quick thoughts on the deal
This was good work from the Netherlands. He cut a struggling player without retaining any salary, added cap space and acquired draft capital that could help facilitate a larger trade, something the Kings will undeniably have to do before the trade deadline if they remain in the mix.
Danault has generally been a valuable asset throughout his career, so it makes sense why the Kings wanted to get a player back in return. The odds of Danault’s play increasing in Montreal are reasonable, but the truth is that his struggles this season have diminished much of that value. No one can complain about trading a player who didn’t get anything done for a second-round pick.
What we learned from the Netherlands
After announcing the trade, Holland hopped on a Zoom call with a number of media members to discuss the Danault trade and answer any questions. Here’s what we learned.
First and foremost, Holland doesn’t seem to be concerned about where the Kings are this season. Despite the large number of loser points and the lack of offense, bigger changes don’t seem to be in the works at the moment.
“I expect him to be here for the rest of the season,” Holland said when asked about head coach Jim Hiller’s job security. “When I look at the rest of the thirteen teams (in the Western Conference standings), we’re all lumped together, we (the Kings) are in the middle of that, we’re a couple points behind second or third in our division.”
“Jim did a good job and our team played very structured and fought every night.”
Danault was once a core player for the Kings, but after the two offseason forwards and some perceived internal growth, Holland believes it was a combination of things that led to the trade.
Related: Joel Armia has given the Kings more than expected and forced himself into a bigger role
“Over the summer I made some moves here to bring some people in, specifically up front, Armia and (Corey) Perry… he (Danault) has about 1:30 less ice time this year than last year, I think that has affected his impact and role on the team a little bit. Like I said, it’s been a bit of a struggle for him offensively. He was a key part of this team all of last year and in the playoff series with Edmonton,” Holland said.
He continued, “I think part of it is the growth of Quinton Byfield, (Anze Kopitar) who’s had a lot of clashes here lately, and I just think it’s a combination of all of the above. I talked to Phil and I talked to Alan Walsh (his agent), and I know they would be open to a move if there was an opportunity for them to maybe play a different, bigger or better role elsewhere. We made it happen tonight.”
With Danault gone, the question now is how the Kings plan to fill the hole he leaves behind. The Kings are undeniably thin at center and will need an upgrade at some point before the playoffs if they can stay on track for it.
“I’m going to look, that’s a possibility,” Holland said of targeting a center. “(Alex) Laferriere can play center, so I’m going to see how it goes. Let’s see, let’s see, we have cap space, we have another draft pick, I’m going to monitor here regularly to see if I need to do anything.”
For now, Holland and the Kings don’t plan to retaliate with an immediate move to fill Danault’s role, which means a bigger opportunity for others already on the roster.
“This is an opportunity for (Alex) Turcotte, who was the fifth overall pick a few years ago…I think it’s an opportunity for him here for the foreseeable future to play 10-14 minutes a night,” Holland said. “We really like Sammy Helenius, his size, the 6-foot-10 that he brings, and I think coach Hiller has shown him some confidence this week, so hopefully he can grow the team a little bit from within.”
Alex Turcotte has shown glimpses that he can become this team’s third-line center with the limited minutes he is getting. Last season, as his role expanded a bit due to injuries, his defensive strengths remained and we saw an increase in offensive production. The talent is there, the skill is there, and the effort has always been there. Now it’s about taking the opportunity he’s given and running with it because he does have the tools to be successful in that spot.
“He’s very competitive, very determined, goes into tough areas, backchecks, he does everything a third-line center can do defensively,” Holland said. “He hasn’t really had a great opportunity on the offensive side of the puck in much of his time here in LA, so we’re going to give him a chance to play some minutes here.”
Ultimately, the understanding is that the combination of internal options such as Turcotte, Samuel Helenius and Alex Laferriere will fill Danault’s role for the time being. If it becomes clear that this is not enough, the Netherlands is prepared to take action.
If we ignore the Danault situation as a whole, the Kings need to take more offense. Losing Danault won’t impact this team’s ability to score goals as he provided next to nothing in that department, but the cap space they now have after moving him will be crucial in an effort to land a player who can drive goal scoring.
The Kings are 15-10-9 so far this season sit in the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. After going 4-4-2 and reaching the last 10, and with other teams in the West starting to pick up the slack, they found themselves slowly falling back in the standings. If the Kings continue on this trajectory, it may well be a short period of time before the Netherlands feels the need to take action to prevent this train from falling off the rails.
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