Can Phillip Danault get out of his funk, and does his future lie in LA?
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Canucks Trades Quinn Hughes? episode about Los Angeles Kings Forward Filip Danaulthis struggles this season, and whether a trade is in his future.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Bukauskas: “Okay, another name that has us wondering a little bit about this: what does the future hold? Could a fresh start here be the best solution? Phillip Danault in Los Angeles.
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Like that’s a guy who had been a great matchup center with Los Angeles in recent years. Of course, he developed into that in Montreal before signing with the Kings. 28 games into the season, Elliotte, no goals, five assists. It was just a strange start to the year for Danault.
He himself has admitted that he has tried everything he could think of. He has gone through things from the past when he struggled to figure it out earlier in his career. And as he has said, nothing has worked so far. What do you think could be going on there?
Friedman: “Well, there were some reports that he could be on the trade market. And I could imagine this being a case where both parties would want this to happen, both the player and the team.
You know, look, if you look at the starting numbers, Philip knows he’s a better player than that. You know, we’ve seen it. He’s been a very big part of LA over the last few years. And over the last three years, as they’ve been tortured by the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs, he’s generally played pretty well against them. Like he’s been one of their superiors, and the better players in this playoff series, even if they can’t get over this Oiler hump.
So you know, there’s only two ways to look at this, like Father Time, who is undefeated, has finally gotten to Phillip Danault, or his LA runway is now over. The only other way this could really change is if LA just says, “Okay, you know what, we’re going to get you over Kopitar and Byfield, you’re going to be one of our two best centers.” But I don’t see that, at least not this year. Who knows what could happen next year? I don’t see that this year.
But the fact that this has come out tells me that I think the player would welcome it on some level. Like I said, the Philip Danault I’ve seen in recent years is a much better player than the one we’ve seen this year. It just hasn’t been good.”
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Bukauskas: “Yes, and that’s why it’s so wildly prominent, because this is not the player we’ve come to know. So hopefully it will all be resolved one way or another, for the better.”
Friedman: “Okay, it looks like the trend has been going this way for a while.”
Bukauskas: “Okay, good. Good to notice.”
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