This post was originally published on this site.
The Washington Capitals have struggled up the middle all season long, which may explain why, according to The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, they were one of the teams that investigated a possible trade for former Los Angeles Kings center Phillip Danault.
Danault was ultimately dealt by the Kings on Saturday to the Montreal Canadiens for a 2026 second-round pick.
Pagnotta made the comments on the Edmonton Sports Talk program, Hello Hockey.
[Danault] was (going to stay in LA) and then his game dipped offensively. It dipped at the end of last season, and it has not gotten back on track now. So officially, no formal trade request was ever made. But there was a conversation about moving on and restarting. Even going into next season with Kopitar out, Danault was going to remain the 3C in LA. It was going to be Byfield, somebody, and Danault if he stayed…
The Canadiens were kinda in on this from the start. There were a number of other teams that poked around: Carolina, Dallas, Washington, New Jersey. And really, the Habs picked up things on Wednesday, when it got to a serious point. And Holland looked around and got a second-round pick out of it. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not what he wanted. He wanted a player, but now you get a pick, you have over $9 million in cap space because there was no retention. This allows you to go out there — because they’re actively looking for scoring — they want to bring in somebody that can fit in the first or second line on the wing who can score, and now you have an extra second-round pick to dangle as part of it.
I think that’s what they’re eventually going to do, but this was just a scenario of LA not viewing Danault as a second-line player anymore, despite how good he is defensively, and both sides being accepting, ‘alright if there’s another opportunity elsewhere, so be it.’ And that’s what happened.
The 32-year-old Danault has scored no goals and recorded only five points in 30 games this season while averaging 16:19 of ice time under former Kings head coach Jim Hiller. He has one season remaining on a six-year, $33 million contract he signed in 2021, where he makes $5.5 million per season.
The timeline of the trade to Montreal may have been accelerated as things between the Kings and Danault got icy. The relationship was “not pretty” and there “were a lot of hard feelings there,” according to Elliote Friedman on Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts Podcast.
Acquiring the defensively-minded Danault would have given the Capitals more depth at the center position as they await second-line center Pierre-Luc Dubois to return to the lineup from abdominal adductor surgery.
First-line center Dylan Strome has seemingly felt Dubois’s absence the most and has been especially cold lately, posting only one goal in his last 20 games. Connor McMichael, who has played at both center and wing this season, has recorded only 18 points (5g, 13a) in 36 games, while Hendrix Lapierre has no goals and five assists in 33 appearances this season with little ice time.
The chaos and lack of production in the top nine pushed rookie Justin Sourdif, originally slotted as a winger on the fourth line to start the season, into the first-line center spot on Sunday, where he’s been centering his childhood hero Alex Ovechkin. Sourdif has just 9 points (3g, 6a) in 35 games.
The Capitals also have 19-year-old prospect Ilya Protas waiting in the wings in Hershey, but they’ve held off giving him the Belarusian pivot an NHL opportunity despite leading the Bears in points as a rookie.
While Danault certainly would have helped the Capitals slot players better in the lineup without Dubois, his lack of offense this season and price tag, especially with Montreal not requiring the Kings to retain any of his salary, may have been too big of a risk for the Capitals to take. The Capitals also did not have a second or third-round pick in next year’s NHL Draft to offer.
The Capitals’ interest in Danault comes after they were heavily rumored to be interested in elite defenseman Quinn Hughes, who the Vancouver Canucks ended up trading to the Minnesota Wild. Friedman also added that the Capitals have made their desire to “grab the best offensive player they can” very clear.