On Friday night, the Los Angeles Kings received a second-round draft pick in 2026 from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a trade for 32-year-old center Phillip Danault on Dec. 19. This trade deal didn't come as a big surprise to many Kings fans given the rampant rumors and trade discussion regarding Danault with the team over the past few months this fall early in the 2025-26 regular season in the West.
Los Angeles Kings general manager Ken Holland discusses and reacts to the Phillip Danault trade on Friday for the team
In a vacuum, the Kings and new general manager Ken Holland didn't receive a bad asset in this trade deal for Danault coming from the Canadiens yesterday night on Friday. The Kings got what will probably be a top 45 draft pick in the second round of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft by way of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the East from the Metropolitan Division.
Danault is in an offensive slump scoring in the zone for the Kings early this regular season in this past couple of months. He's only scored five total points, five assists, and zero goals in 30 games played early this regular season in the West for the Kings and head coach Jim Hiller.
The news of this trade for the Kings sending Danault to the Habs late this week comes just hours before the start of the league's NHL trade freeze starting this weekend on Dec. 20 on Saturday. Danault has played for the Kings since LA brought him to the team in the 2021-22 season in the West.
After the news was announced late on Friday night (Dec. 19), Holland spoke to the media to give his reaction to the trade deal with the Habs late this week. Holland spoke to the local media after the trade on Friday night yesterday.
Holland told the media that he would've preferred to have Danault traded on the trade market this week for another player in return on the roster for the Kings this regular season.
“Ultimately, we felt like the deal today was our best deal", Holland said. "We got cap space. We got another draft pick. I'm going to monitor here on a regular basis to see if I need to do something."
It appears like the Kings and Holland wanted another asset, but that wasn't available in these trade talks this week for LA. The Kings had a role for Danault early this regular season this fall offensively with the core lines. Danault missed a few games this past couple of weeks for the Kings in the Western Conference, including games against the Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames in early to mid-December, because he got the flu.
Both Danault and his agent agreed that a trade could be the right move for both him and the Kings this regular season. They wanted to see how these discussions and conversations with other general managers around the league in the NHL went along this fall.
"This was a decision that was needed, that I made. In talking to Allan Walsh, in talking to Phil, his role changed and it’s been a struggle, it’s been a struggle here offensively for Phil. It’s about Christmas here and he has no goals and five assists. We found a trading partner here that I think is going to be good for Phil, he gets to go back to a city where he had a lot of success. It gives him a fresh opportunity."
It was discussed that Holland and the Kings still have the full confidence in Hiller and the coaching staff to make the roster decisions for the team in the West this regular season in the next couple of months. It wouldn't surprise me if we saw more of Alex Turcotte and Alex Laferriere playing in bigger roles in the core top-nine forward lines core group this regular season in the next few weeks for the Kings offensively.
"He [Alex Turcotte] is very competitive. Very determined, goes to hard areas, back checks. I think he does all the things that a third-line center can do defensively. He hasn’t really had a great opportunity in a lot of this time here in LA on the offensive side of the puck. We’re going to give him an opportunity here to play some minutes."
"What does a 3C get, like 30 to 40 points? I think Phil had 43 last year. I’m not sure he could get that right off the bat, but he’s certainly, defensively, been very good. We’re going to give him an opportunity here to play some minutes. He was a point producer, obviously, in his draft year. Went to college, had almost a point-per-game as a freshman. So, hopefully, this opportunity allows him to kind of find his offensive side. Certainly defensively, he’s been very good."