Hockey

The Kings are not currently prepared to trade Phillip Danault
Félix Forget
The Kings are not currently prepared to trade Phillip Danault
Credit: Screenshot/Twitter

On Saturday night, we learned that the Kings were receiving quite a few calls about Phillip Danault. And, of course, that set the NHL on fire.

We know that there are many teams throughout the Bettman circuit looking for center players.

All this led to speculation that Danault might want to leave Los Angeles… but there's one detail that shouldn't be forgotten in all this: the Kings have their say, too.

And according to Renaud Lavoie, who spoke to JiC this evening, just because teams are calling about Danault doesn't mean the Kings want to trade him.

In fact, they wouldn't be willing to… yet.

What Lavoie is explaining is that the Kings haven't placed Danault (who is under contract for $5.5 million a year until the end of next season) on the market. So they haven't negotiated with the teams that have called… yet again.

And of course, you have to wonder if the Habs, who are looking for help at center, are one of those teams. If the forward really wants to finish his career in Montreal, there's reason to believe he's a good fit… at certain levels.

Simon-Olivier Lorange, on the most recent episode of Sortie de zone, reminded us that the Habs rank 25th in the NHL in terms of numerical disadvantage. There's no doubt that Danault would help here.

On the other hand, his five points (without a single goal) in 28 games don't suggest he'd fill the second-center spot in town… even if, in reality, placing him at Ivan Demidov's center wouldn't be the worst thing to help the kid take good defensive creases.

Or, in the worst-case scenario, to let Demidov show off offensively. But no, that wouldn't solve the problem of the second center.


Overtime

– Owen Tippett's name continues to circulate in the rumor mill.

– Interesting news.

– Whew.

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