Nathan MacKinnon Was Right About Phillip Danault

Back in 2021, Nathan MacKinnon was asked to name one of the NHL’s most underrated players. He could have picked just about anybody. Instead, the Colorado Avalanche star picked Phillip Danault.

MacKinnon said Danault was “hard to get space on” and was “good vs everybody, not just me.” That was quite a compliment coming from one of the best offensive players in the world. And MacKinnon was right.

Danault didn’t give the opposition much to work with.

What made Danault interesting was that you couldn't really measure his value by goals and assists. He was the kind of centre whose best nights sometimes showed up in somebody else's statistics — usually because the other team's best players didn't get much done.

Danault was already good at that in Montreal. Then he left for Los Angeles, where he continued doing pretty much the same thing. He wasn't suddenly going to become a 30-goal scorer. He wasn't going to turn into a highlight-reel player. What he was going to do was make someone’s life miserable. And then something rather interesting happened.

Related: Remembering When the Canadiens Went All-In for Pierre Turgeon.

The Canadiens brought him back to Montreal.

In December 2025, the Canadiens brought Danault back, acquiring him from the Kings for a 2026 second-round pick. At first, it didn't look like some brilliant reunion. Danault had managed only five assists in 30 games with Los Angeles, and there were questions about what the 33-year-old centre had left.

Then he started scoring. Danault scored three goals in seven games during one stretch, including the game-winner against the Maple Leafs. He finished his first 27 games back in Montreal with 11 points after recording only five assists in 30 games with the Kings.

Suddenly, the old Danault was back. And then came the playoffs.

Danault is a player built for the postseason.

By the Eastern Conference Final, Danault was doing what Danault has always done. He was contributing in the places that don't always make the highlight package. He finished the playoffs with 10 points, including seven in his final five games, along with 15 shots, 30 hits, 15 blocked shots and a plus-8 rating in 16 games. That's playoff production that matters.

What I like about the Danault story is that MacKinnon saw something in him that the statistics didn't fully explain. Five years later, that still seems to be true. Danault isn't really an underrated player anymore. He's an established veteran who knows exactly what kind of player he is.

And now he's back where much of that reputation was built. Maybe MacKinnon wasn't making a prediction in 2021. Maybe he was simply telling us to pay attention.

Related: Jonathan Drouin Has Had a Complicated Hockey Life