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Danault and his negotiations with the Habs in 2018: “It was the beginning of the end”

 Andrew Taylor
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Danault and his negotiations with the Habs in 2018: “It was the beginning of the end”
Credit: Getty Images
When Phillip Danault left the Canadiens in the summer of 2021, many fans in town were disappointed.

After all, Danault is a local, he had given his heart and soul to the club during the Habs’ run to the finals, and he had also established himself as one of the NHL’s best two-way centers.

Many criticized Marc Bergevin for his handling of the case.

However, Anthony Marcotte told Kevin Raphaël’s podcast that the love affair between Danault and management had been over for a while.

Anthony Marcotte recounts the time Danault signed his three-year contract worth $3.083 million a year in the summer of 2018, and says the player felt somewhat “obliged” to accept that amount to avoid a salary arbitration hearing, which was scheduled for the day before his wedding:

In the end, he reluctantly signed because he thought he could get more. It was the beginning of the end for Phillip Danault with the Canadiens… – Anthony Marcotte

We knew the hearing was scheduled for the day before his wedding… But we didn’t know the player felt this way :

After signing his contract, Danault told Montreal journalists that he was “very happy” to be staying in town, and that there hadn’t been too many problems with the negotiations.

The Journal de Montréal had written an article on the subject.

That said, it’s clear that Danault wasn’t going to openly say after agreeing to the terms of a new contract that he wasn’t happy with his situation.

It wouldn’t have gone over well in the public arena (especially since he’s from Quebec) and it wouldn’t have been well received by the organization.

But all in all, it proves that we don’t know everything that goes on behind the scenes of the Habs and the NHL.

The NHL is a business, as we often hear… But there’s also a way of doing things.

And to hear Anthony Marcotte tell it, let’s just say Phillip Danault didn’t like the way Marc Bergevin treated him when he signed his first big contract with the Habs.


Overtime

– Bravo, captain!

– There was a great atmosphere today in Laval.

– Let’s go !

– Still.

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