LOS ANGELES. -- Quebec native Phillip Danault has been traded to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 2026 second-round pick.
Although Danault is still regarded as one of the NHL’s top two-way centers, the trade comes amid a season in which he’s struggled to produce offensively, with just five assists and zero goals in 30 games.
Despite the scoring drought, there were a lot of teams interested in the veteran center.
“I would say over this last week, I talked to more than half the teams in the National Hockey League,” Kings General Manager Ken Holland said.
The move also comes at a time when the Kings have struggled to score, with a 14.6% power-play percentage, ranking 30th in the league, along with 2.56 goals for per game, ranked 28th league-wide.
Danault recorded 200 points in five seasons with the Kings, including 19 points in 24 playoff games, proving a consistent impact every time he stepped on the ice.
He now returns to a Montreal Canadiens organization he knows well, having played six seasons with the club before signing a six-year, $5.5 million AAV contract with the Kings as a free agent in 2021. He has one year remaining on that deal after this season.
“Found a trading partner here that I think is gonna be good for Phil,” Holland said. “He gets to go back to a city where he had a lot of success, and we get a second-round pick and obviously some cap space to use going forward.”
Holland also expressed an opportunity for former fifth-overall pick Alex Turcotte to step into the team’s third-line center role.
“He’s very competitive, very determined, goes to hard areas, backchecks. I think he does all the things that a third-line center can do defensively,” Holland said. “He hasn’t really probably had a great opportunity in a lot of his time here in LA on the offensive side of the puck, so we’re gonna give him an opportunity here to play some minutes.”
While Danault didn’t score a goal this season for the Kings, the second-round pick doesn’t provide immediate on-ice production for the Kings.
With the NHL roster freeze taking effect at midnight local time on December 19, the Kings would need to complete any additional moves before then; otherwise, they will have to wait until December 28 to potentially use the pick in a trade for an impact roster player.