Phillip Danault Is Back With The Habs

It was reported earlier this week by RG Media’s Marco D’Amico that Danault and his management group were hoping that a deal would get done before the roster freeze took place as of midnight on Saturday, December 20th, 2025. It came down to the wire, but Danault was able to get traded back to his destination of choice. The 32-year-old centre has struggled to start the season with the Kings, with no goals and just 5 assists in 30 games, while averaging 16:19 a night.

Despite his offensive struggles, Danault has continued to have very solid advanced stats showing that he’s still among the elite defensive centres in the game. Now that he’s back with the Habs and likely going to be given more of an opportunity offensively, it will be interesting to see if he can get back to producing around a 40-point pace like he has for the majority of his NHL career.

The truth is Danault completely lost his power play time as younger players such as Quinton Byfield and Alex Turcotte have continued to grow within the Kings system. As a result, Danault has been used primarily in a shutdown role this year, which probably led to the veteran forward wanting out of Los Angeles. While he may not be known as much for his offensive game compared to his defensive abilities, Danault has always been a great complementary scoring forward, which is why it was surprising to see his offence dip as much as it had with the Kings this season.

It’s quite possible that the Habs acquired him in hopes that he can find his offensive game again, as there is a deep hole at the 2C position. Sure, Oliver Kapanen has been doing well alongside Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky, but he’s not a traditional 2-way centre that can drive a line. Therefore, Danault has an opportunity to reclaim that 2nd-line centre role that he held just before leaving the Canadiens after their miraculous run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021.

This time around, Danault will have less pressure on his shoulders playing behind a much more experienced Nick Suzuki. If Danault can find his offensive game, he will be the perfect centre to isolate Suzuki from needing to play 20+ minutes per night, which should allow him to improve even more offensively. The Habs shouldn’t expect a 45-50-point player from Danault anymore, but a 35-40-point pace while playing elite penalty kill minutes for the team is exactly what they likely will want from him. Danault may also receive some power play time on the 2nd unit alongside his former linemate Brendan Gallagher.

In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Danault and Gallagher be reunited on a line at 5-on-5, with the centre getting shifts with different guys late in games for important defensive situations, especially when they need a faceoff win from the left side. This season, Danault has won 52.9% of his draws, which would rank him 3rd among Habs centres behind only Owen Beck and Jake Evans.

Danault should be able to fill the shoes of the departed Christian Dvorak, who left for the Philadelphia Flyers in the off-season. Up until now, the Habs have yet to find someone who could fill the role as a good left-handed centre on the Habs. It will be interesting to see if Danault can refind the magic in his game that made him so important to the Habs during his first tenure with the team. However, it is nice to add some much-needed centre depth.

How do you feel about the return of Phillip Danault?