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Phillip Danault is the Kings’ catalyst

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Phillip Danault is the Kings’ catalyst
Credit: He enjoyed success with the Kings.
When the Kings acquired Pierre-Luc Dubois last summer, one might have wondered about the plan with Phillip Danault. After all, the Quebecer has a contract worth $5.5 million per season, and for a third-trio center, that can be expensive.

However, Dubois is having a sub-par season (which is why the team’s third center is paid $8.5 million annually) and Danault continues to be one of the NHL’s most reliable players.

Los Angeles hockey reporter Connor Doyle even talks about the team’s catalyst.

That’s no mean feat for a guy playing behind Anze Kopitar, one of the NHL’s best centers and a future Hall of Famer, among others.

The Slovenian may be better offensively, but Danault still collects points at a respectable rate, and defensively, he does a superb job. In fact, since he joined the Kings, his trio has always been among the NHL’s elite.

In 2021-2022, the trio he completed with Viktor Arvidsson and Trevor Moore was ranked sixth in the xGoals category. This statistic, which determines the percentage chance of a blocked shot becoming a goal, was calculated among trios that played at least 400 minutes together.

In 2022-2023, this same line ranked seventh (500 minutes) and this season, Danault, Moore and, this time, Kevin Fiala, rank fifth.

The conclusion is clear: no matter who Danault plays with, his trio is among the most defensively consistent in the Bettman circuit. The Quebecer may not have the numbers of Kopitar or Fiala (he still has 30 points in 48 games), he may not be the XFactor, but he is the team’s most consistent center.

In Los Angeles, he’s adored. And this excellent piece by Doyle, calling the center an underrated leader in particular, is proof of that. It’s easy to say in hindsight, but for $5.5 million a year, number 24 wouldn’t have been out of place in Montreal.


In bursts

– We’re there now.

– As François Legault would say, it’s “cool”.

– Good question.

– Well done.

– What do you think?

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