Confirmed Signing with Link: [LAK] F Phillip Danault signs with the Kings (6 years, $5.5M AAV)

[ismelofhockey]

And Bergevin quickly found the error of his ways seeing as how he joined Danault in LA this year. I think it was Montreal who were hasty in their sacking of Bergevin and I think it will haunt them for a while. Bergevin is a great manager, a great man, he's not dead yet and he will rise to the top once more sooner or later.

I'm a fan of Bergevin, but in a tough spot he had a tendency to panic. He was great at individual moves, but he was poor at long term planning. And he couldn't assemble a good drafting & development team.

In the summer of 2017, he destroyed all the progress he'd made building the team by failing to bring Markov and Radulov back, which forced him to deal Sergachev for Drouin, sign Karl Alzner, and rush Mete to the league.
The Habs tumbled from 1st in the Atlantic and 3rd in the Conference in 2017 to 6th in the Atlantic, missing the playoffs.

Last summer he had another disastrous offseason on par with 2017's. He should have accommodated Danault's wishes for a more offensive role. Danault was arguably our best forward and a local in a city starved for home grown talent.

In two summers he completely dismantled all the good he'd done.

 

[HabsQC]

Habs made a huge mistake giving Gallagher 6.5 mil… We could have kept Danault at 5.5 and saved a million..

He didn't want to re-sign here though

 

[abo9]

And Bergevin quickly found the error of his ways seeing as how he joined Danault in LA this year. I think it was Montreal who were hasty in their sacking of Bergevin and I think it will haunt them for a while. Bergevin is a great manager, a great man, he's not dead yet and he will rise to the top once more sooner or later.

Is this sarcasm? Montreal were a coupke seasons late on his firing if anything

 

[malcb33]

He didn't want to re-sign here though

It’s been made pretty clear he didn’t want to sign in Montreal because of his deployment (mostly defensive assignments) and he obviously knew the organizations plan at the time was to move forward with Suzuki and KK as the top two centres.

He said in his press conference that LA promised to give him more offensive opportunities which was a big reason he signed.

Danualt is a very good player. Anyone with a brain knows it was a good signing in the short term for LA, but it’s the end of the deal that’s concerning. His performance this year doesn’t change that.

 

[belair]

And Bergevin quickly found the error of his ways seeing as how he joined Danault in LA this year. I think it was Montreal who were hasty in their sacking of Bergevin and I think it will haunt them for a while. Bergevin is a great manager, a great man, he's not dead yet and he will rise to the top once more sooner or later.

That certainly is an opinion.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

Danualt is a very good player. Anyone with a brain knows it was a good signing in the short term for LA, but it’s the end of the deal that’s concerning. His performance this year doesn’t change that.

He will be 33 at the start of his final year.
Anyone with a brain knows that’s hardly concerning.

 

[BringTheReign]

One thing I’ll point out is that Danault’s chemistry with Arvidsson and Moore reminds me a lot of his line with Gallagher and Tuna. I think Arvidsson and Gallagher share a ton of similarities, and though Moore isn’t too similar to Tatar, they’re both skilled players who can keep up. I’d say the differentiator is that Moore can also forecheck like a demon. That aspect of his game takes the burden off Danault a bit and let’s him do more in front of the net instead of in the corners.

 

[Rorschach]

I saw scruffy-looking nerfherder Danault against Chicago the other day...he's starting to look a bit Mike Cannon-like.

 

[tkb81]

I dont' remember him taking a shot that wasn't meant to draw a faceoff, heh.

But I do remember that fan that was chiding us saying he'd be worth a million per goal for his contract. That poster is going to be thrilled to know he's paid off over 2/3 of his contract in year one

Hahaha, love that guy .. he argued so hard to be wrong ..

 

[danyhabsfan]

Not signing Danault wasn't that bad. I can live with that.


But they hadn't locked up KK yet and they made a panick move by giving a 1st and a 2nd for Dvorak.

That's the part than frustrate me.


Bergevin won a lot of trades but his asset management (with the cap management) is so bad.



One offseason he traded (all LD) Sergachev, Beaulieu and lost Emelin in the draft expansion and played hardball with Markov (LD) and Radulov for about 500k per year.

He finally ended without both players and 8M in cap space.




Last offseason he signed Hoffman, Savard and Armia (11.4M per year combined) to multi years deal when he knew that Suzuki was gonna need a 7M raise. (from 800k to 7.8M)


We have no cap space for years to come even if we traded Toffoli and Lehkonen. (and traded UFA Chariot and Kulak)

 

[JianYang]

One thing I’ll point out is that Danault’s chemistry with Arvidsson and Moore reminds me a lot of his line with Gallagher and Tuna. I think Arvidsson and Gallagher share a ton of similarities, and though Moore isn’t too similar to Tatar, they’re both skilled players who can keep up. I’d say the differentiator is that Moore can also forecheck like a demon. That aspect of his game takes the burden off Danault a bit and let’s him do more in front of the net instead of in the corners.

It could simply be an evening out of sorts. Last year, his goal scoring was roughly half his average from the previous couple seasons.

This year, it's roughly double.

 

[dukeofjive]

I hope to see him eating alot of pizza in interviews this year.

 

[malcb33]

He will be 33 at the start of his final year.
Anyone with a brain knows that’s hardly concerning.

It's not about his age my friend, that's not the concerning part for the Kings

 

[BringTheReign]

It's not about his age my friend, that's not the concerning part for the Kings

His cap hit is comparable to or less than what the Kings paid by percentage for Handzus and Stoll during their pre-Cup years in '08-'11. He's a better player than both of them, and the cap itself will continue to go up during his deal making the hit even less significant. If it's not age and not the cap we should be worried about, you're running out of arguments (which seem to not be in good faith to begin with).

EDIT with the numbers mentioned above:

Jarret Stoll's first LAK contract: 4 years x 3.6M signed in summer 2008

• Age 26, Year 1: 3.6/56.7 = 6.3% of the cap
• Age 29, Year 4: 3.6/64.3 = 5.6% of the cap

Michal Handzus's first LAK contract: 4 years x 4M signed in summer 2007 with a NMC

• Age 30, Year 1: 4/50.3 = 8% of the cap
• Age 33, Year 4: 4/59.4 = 6.7% of the cap

Philip Danault's first LAK contract: 6 years x 5.5M signed in summer 2021 with a 3 year NMC & 3 year partial-NMC

• Age 28, Year 1: 5.5/81.5 = 6.8% of the cap
• Age 33, Year 6: 5.5/? = Less than 6.8% of the cap (Cap is going up $1M next year, and Bill Daly has estimated the cap would begin to rise by more than $1M/yr again during year 4 of this deal)

I think Danualt is a better player than Stoll or Handzus (though both were excellent 3rd line centers at their peak). Danault is also being brought in to do a similar job as Stoll and Handzus were, which is to be our temporary 2C and eventually our shutdown 3C while helping the kids break in. I agree that we gave up a bit of length to your point, but I don't think it's that bad given that his deal will be around 5% as a percentage of the cap in years 4-6.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

It's not about his age my friend, that's not the concerning part for the Kings

Than tell us what is concerning.

That he could decline faster than others ? Injury prone or that he can fall down the stairs tomorrow ?

 

[apocalypse]

I think Danualt is a better player than Stoll or Handzus (though both were excellent 3rd line centers at their peak). Danault is also being brought in to do a similar job as Stoll and Handzus were, which is to be our temporary 2C and eventually our shutdown 3C while helping the kids break in.

I can see Danault being our 2nd line center for the next 5 years. He's that good. And he makes his linemates that much better. Why would we need anyone different. I see Byfield breaking in as that 1st center eventually. The only question is who do we fill the rest of the top 6 with?

 

[Little Psycho]

I saw scruffy-looking nerfherder Danault against Chicago the other day...he's starting to look a bit Mike Cannon-like.

I've been saying that since day 1. My sister who doesn't watch hockey anymore asked if we got Richards back lol.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

It's not about his age my friend, that's not the concerning part for the Kings

Than what is concerning, asked you this already.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

He's already got a 7 million dollar credit at that "enjoy 1 million a goal" rate!

Ah man this is hilarious. Love Phil. And the way he has taken full ownership this year.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I'm a fan of Bergevin, but in a tough spot he had a tendency to panic. He was great at individual moves, but he was poor at long term planning. And he couldn't assemble a good drafting & development team.

In the summer of 2017, he destroyed all the progress he'd made building the team by failing to bring Markov and Radulov back, which forced him to deal Sergachev for Drouin, sign Karl Alzner, and rush Mete to the league.
The Habs tumbled from 1st in the Atlantic and 3rd in the Conference in 2017 to 6th in the Atlantic, missing the playoffs.

Last summer he had another disastrous offseason on par with 2017's. He should have accommodated Danault's wishes for a more offensive role. Danault was arguably our best forward and a local in a city starved for home grown talent.

In two summers he completely dismantled all the good he'd done.

I very much dislike how he managed his last off season (especially with Danault) but there will be many parts left that are on this roster in years to come. 3 of the best pieces we got come from Bergevin

Bergevin acquired assets:
Suzuki
Caufield
Guhle
Xhekaj
Anderson
Harris
Roy
Farrell
Dobes
Mailloux

Gorton/Hughes acquired assets (yes it's very early):
Dach (used Romanov which was a Bergevin asset)
Matheson (used Petry which was a Bergevin asset)
Panthers 1st rounder (used Chiarot which was a Bergevin acquired asset)
Monahan/Flames 1st (acquired a 1st to take him and might get a 2nd and B+ prospect at the deadline)
Mesar and Heineman (Toffoli trade which was a Bergevin acquired asset)
Lehkonen trade is not tracking well.
Slafkovsky
Beck
Hutson
Rohrer
Engstrom

How long do Gorton/Hughes acquired assets end up being better than Suzuki, Caufield, Guhle, Xhekaj?

 

[dirtydanglez]

I very much dislike how he managed his last off season (especially with Danault) but there will be many parts left that are on this roster in years to come. 3 of the best pieces we got come from Bergevin

Bergevin acquired assets:
Suzuki
Caufield
Guhle
Xhekaj
Anderson
Harris
Roy
Farrell
Dobes
Mailloux

Gorton/Hughes acquired assets (yes it's very early):
Dach (used Romanov which was a Bergevin asset)
Matheson (used Petry which was a Bergevin asset)
Panthers 1st rounder (used Chiarot which was a Bergevin acquired asset)
Monahan/Flames 1st (acquired a 1st to take him and might get a 2nd and B+ prospect at the deadline)
Mesar and Heineman (Toffoli trade which was a Bergevin acquired asset)
Slafkovsky
Beck
Hutson
Rohrer
Engstrom

How long do Gorton/Hughes acquired assets end up being better than Suzuki, Caufield, Guhle, Xhekaj?

both have been disappointing. bergevin more so but we've also had more time to analyze what bergevin has done.

 

[raswilliam]

Everytime I see Danault, I cant help but think he looks like mike richards

 

[Kurrilino]

I can see Danault being our 2nd line center for the next 5 years. He's that good. And he makes his linemates that much better. Why would we need anyone different. I see Byfield breaking in as that 1st center eventually. The only question is who do we fill the rest of the top 6 with?

Vilardi, Kempe and Fiala are on pace for 30+ goals.
Kaliev is on pace for 20+ goals and would have no trouble cracking 30 goals in a top 6 role

Having 4 30+ goal scorer is good enough for me and would be unique even for NHL standards.
Arvidson has no long term future here since i see Iafallo and Moore being 3rd line winger

Easy enough

 

[Mats26]

Nice bump on this thread for our next captain.

 

[Habs Halifax]

both have been disappointing. bergevin more so but we've also had more time to analyze what bergevin has done.

Gorton/Hughes have not disappointed me and I'm assuming lots of Habs fans like the moves they made. They are rebuilding and we have likely two top 10 picks in this draft after Slaf last season. Flames 1st in the future and the prospect pool / future draft power is still very strong.