Phillip Danault hadn’t gotten off to the start he wanted this season; in fact, it was the worst start of his career. With zero goals and just five assists through 30 games played, and a diminished role on the penalty kill due to the signing of Joel Armia (who has been terrific on the PK), Danault quickly became a player who wasn’t bringing much to the table.
He was struggling, and it was evident on the ice. Unimpactful, going through the motions, and ultimately not providing enough to warrant the $5.5 million salary he was making. About six days ago, Marco D’Amico of RG Media reported that Danault had requested a trade and that his camp hoped a deal would be finalized before the roster freeze.
Just before the roster freeze, Kings general manager Ken Holland finalized a deal. Danault was traded back to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for the Columbus Blue Jackets’ second-round pick in 2026.
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 Holland. He got rid of a struggling player without retaining any salary, added cap space, and gained draft capital that could help facilitate a bigger trade, which is something that the Kings will undeniably need to do before the trade deadline if they remain in the mix.
Danault, in general throughout his career, has been a valuable asset, so it makes sense as to why the Kings were looking to get a player back in return. The odds of Danault’s play increasing in Montreal are decent, but the truth of the matter is, his struggles this season diminished a lot of that value. No one can complain about trading a player who couldn’t get anything going for a second-round pick.
What We Learned From Holland
Following the announcement of the trade, Holland hopped on a Zoom call with a bunch of media members to discuss the Danault trade and answer any questions. Here’s what we learned.
First and foremost, Holland doesn’t seem concerned with where the Kings are at this season. Despite the copious amounts of loser points and the lack of offense, bigger changes don’t seem to be in the works right now.
“I would expect him to be here 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 13 teams (in the Western Conference standings), we’re all bunched up, we are (the Kings) in the middle of that, we’re a couple of points out of second or third in our division.”
“Jim’s done a good job, and our team has played very structured and competes every night.”
Danault was once a core player for the Kings, but after the two forward additions made in the offseason and some supposed 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, Forcing Himself Into a Bigger Role
“In the summertime, I made some moves here to bring in some people, up front specifically, Armia and (Corey) Perry…he’s (Danault) got about a 1:30 less of ice time this year than last year, I think that’s had a bit of an impact on his impact and role on the team. Like I said, it’s been a bit of a struggle for him offensively. He was a core part of this team all of last year and into the playoff series with Edmonton,” Holland said.
He continued, “I think part of it is the growth of Quinton Byfield, (Anze Kopitar)’s taking a lot of faceoffs here the last little while, and I just think it’s a combination of all of the above. I was talking to Phil, and I was talking to Alan Walsh (his agent), and I know that they would be open to a move if there was an opportunity for them to have maybe a different, or a bigger, or a better role elsewhere. We made it happen tonight.”
With Danault gone, the question now is how the Kings plan to fill the hole that he leaves. The Kings are undeniably thin at center and will need an upgrade at some point before the playoffs if that’s something they can remain on track for.
“I’m going to watch, that’s a possibility,” Holland said about targeting a center. “(Alex) Laferriere can play in the middle, so going to see how it goes. Let’s see, let’s watch, we got cap space, we got another draft pick, I’m going to monitor here on a regular basis to see if I need to do something.”
For now, Holland and the Kings don’t plan to retaliate with an immediate move to fill the role of Danault, 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 in the next little while to play 10-14 minutes a night,” Holland said. “We really like Sammy Helenius, his size, the 6-foot-6 that he brings, and I think coach Hiller has shown him some confidence this week, so hopefully to kind of grow the team a little bit from within.”
Alex Turcotte has shown glimpses that he can be this team’s third-line center with the limited minutes he’s been given. Last season, when his role increased for a bit due to injuries, his defensive strengths remained, and we saw an uptick 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 that will be given to him and running away with it because he does have the tools to be successful in that spot.
“He’s very competitive, very determined, goes to hard areas, backchecks, he does all the things a third line center can do defensively,” Holland said. “He hasn’t really had a great opportunity in a lot of his time here in LA on the offensive side of the puck, so we’re going to give him an opportunity here to play some minutes.”
Ultimately, the understanding is that the combination of internal options, such as Turcotte, Samuel Helenius, and Alex Laferriere, will fill the role of Danault for now. If it becomes clear that it’s not enough, Holland is prepared to make a move.
Disregarding the Danault situation as a whole, the Kings need to find more offense. Losing Danault doesn’t impact this team’s ability to score goals, as he provided next to nothing on that front, but the cap space they now have after moving him will be crucial in attempting to bring in a player who can boost goal scoring.
The Kings are 15-10-9 so far this season and sit in the first wildcard spot in the Western Conference. After going 4-4-2 and in their last 10, and with other teams in the West starting to pick it up, they have seen themselves slowly fall in the standings. If the Kings continue on this trajectory, it could very well be a short period of time before Holland feels the need to make a move in order to keep this train from falling off the rails.
