Kings sign Phillip Danault for 6 years

[VCRW]

I would think this signing allows Blake to move Turcotte or Vilardi if the right deal comes along. Many of the kids currently in the pipeline aren’t going to be Kings. They are trade-able assets first and foremost. I like this acquisition.

 

[hokiecat]

Kopitar can take less min on the PK, and less draws in the defensive zone. One of the big issues with Vilardi is that he be couldn't trusted him to take draws in our defensive zone. Also allows Kopitar to match up against more favorable opponents, instead of needing to always try and line him up against the other team's top lines. He's not suddenly going to become MacKinnon, that's not his game, but it should allow him to get more opportunities to score.

Copy. Less minutes = fresher on the PP and 5v5.

I'm still not a fan and agree with Dom's take on the contract value. I also think 'getting one of the best or the best FA center' is disingenuous because teams don't let good centers go to free agency. Wingers yes, defenseman sometimes, goalies yes, centers usually not.

>Danault is an *Excellent* two-way center who drives play incredibly well. But six years is a long time and I am very skeptical he'll still be that in the back half of the deal.

https://mobile.twitter.com/domluszczyszyn/status/1420445494069932041

 

[stadlere]

Kopitar can take less min on the PK, and less draws in the defensive zone. One of the big issues with Vilardi is that he be couldn't trusted him to take draws in our defensive zone. Also allows Kopitar to match up against more favorable opponents, instead of needing to always try and line him up against the other team's top lines. He's not suddenly going to become MacKinnon, that's not his game, but it should allow him to get more opportunities to score.

^^^^This right here. I don?t think people realize the load Kopitar takes on defensively. Like the post mentions, Kopitar can take less defensive zone draws and more offensive zone draws which will lead to more opportunities. He doesn?t have to chase Mackinnon, Mcdavid, etc. around all night when Danualt is doing it. I like my chances with Kopitar going up against Kadri, Nugent-Hopkins, etc. all night.

Just another point, I think we can all agree that Jarret Stoll was a very important member of the cup teams. His salary cap hit relative to the cap ceiling was from 5 to 6 percent. Danault is at 6% currently and will decrease over the years as the cap goes up. I don?t agree with the argument that you can?t pay a 3rd line center that much money as the Kings have done so in the past based on cap hit percentages.

Not saying the Kings are Stanley cup contenders now, but they just added piece that will be part of the fabric of the Kings contending in the future. Just my two cents.

 

[Greg33]

There was another thread earlier during this off-season where it came up. It *could* seem that Turcotte *could* become the trade bait based upon everyone else but him, getting a look on the Kings last season.

This signing now pre-empts the sting of moving Villardi, Turcotte, Kupari or Madden or JAD. NOT THE BYFIELD!!!

Simply put, Rob Blake has ran out of time waiting for 1 of them to develop into a dependable full time NHL center.

Blake is not going to take the chance on it this season either, so much so that he's gonna pay this guy $5M a year for SIX years.

 

[What party?]

I see the Carter comparison just without the goals and the Stoll comparison, face-offs/possession but aren't all of our forwards pretty much third liners in the NHL? I will concede that he does add [in Jeremy Clarkson's voice] more speeeeedddd.

Welcome Phil, good luck out there. =)

 

[DryKing]

There was another thread earlier during this off-season where it came up. It *could* seem that Turcotte *could* become the trade bait based upon everyone else but him, getting a look on the Kings last season.

This signing now pre-empts the sting of moving Villardi, Turcotte, Kupari or Madden or JAD. NOT THE BYFIELD!!!

Simply put, Rob Blake has ran out of time waiting for 1 of them to develop into a dependable full time NHL center.

Blake is not going to take the chance on it this season either, so much so that he's gonna pay this guy $5M a year for SIX years.

I think it's less that he's given up on waiting for them to develop and more that he realizes quite a few are better suited for winger in the current NHL (Vilardi, Kupari, Madden and likely even Turcotte). If you can convert them into top 6 wingers and round out the centers with Kopitar, Byfield, Danault and JAD then it's very likely you have a winning team.

 

[Helvetica]

Danault is an *Excellent* two-way center who drives play incredibly well. But six years is a long time and I am very skeptical he'll still be that in the back half of the deal.

I think that's everyone's real concern here. Term and money aside, this is a great fit. Doe sit accomplish what they want to accomplish? remains to be seen, because on paper, this should allow better matchups, more control of the puck, and more scoring opportunity. How long will he continue to play at this level? We won't know until it happens. If he craters in another year or two, this looks not good. If he slowly declines, this should be fairly good. If he can maintain this level of play at 4 yrs+, i think this winds up being an incredible move for Blake. But we won't have these answers until later. Right now, I like it. But i'm definitely planning to revisit this topic at the end of the coming season.

 

[Kingme]

I think that's everyone's real concern here. Term and money aside, this is a great fit. Doe sit accomplish what they want to accomplish? remains to be seen, because on paper, this should allow better matchups, more control of the puck, and more scoring opportunity. How long will he continue to play at this level? We won't know until it happens. If he craters in another year or two, this looks not good. If he slowly declines, this should be fairly good. If he can maintain this level of play at 4 yrs+, i think this winds up being an incredible move for Blake. But we won't have these answers until later. Right now, I like it. But i'm definitely planning to revisit this topic at the end of the coming season.

Would not be surprised if he?s traded in year 3 or 4. Have it on good authority Kings were interested in Blake Coleman. A scoring forward will be added.

 

[aaron]

I see the Carter comparison just without the goals and the Stoll comparison, face-offs/possession but aren't all of our forwards pretty much third liners in the NHL?

Welcome Phil, good luck out there. =)

Almost there.
Mike Richards. (hopefully without the bad ending)

The more I read and think about this, the more I like it. Top tier player. $5.5M won't be too much by the end of the deal. Match up for the McDavids and MacKinnons of the world.

And it emphasizes the timetable to compete. Next year, and the years after.

So yeah, I'll give Blake a kudo for this one. Good idea, and not a peep of a rumor anywhere.

 

[jom]

Good idea, and not a peep of a rumor anywhere.

Really? I could swear I read about this possibility several days ago. I just can't remember where....

jom

 

[Illegal_Stick]

I think the move is right - if these prospects (or a good few of them) turn out to be what they're supposed to be. We should have quite a few scorers, so a defensive specialist to help Kopitar makes total sense. Might be a slight overpayment, but it's not my money and the cap isn't going to be a problem for a few years. If it's a crap deal and we need to re-sign some of the young guys, it will be solved the way every other team solves these problems.

None of us know for sure how it works but one thing is clear, there are some of you that Blake can not win with no matter what he does.

 

[Illegal_Stick]

Really? I could swear I read about this possibility several days ago. I just can't remember where....

jom

Dillman brought it up I believe and I feel like Hoven. Actually, even ol' Eklund had this one. Just wasn't a big story because you know, we're the Kings.

 

[santiclaws]

I think you need to do a little more reading on Danault:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/mijh02/oc_falling_out_of_favour_is_phillip_danault/

Wow, that's a deep dive into his stats. And they are very, very impressive stats. I'm warming up to this signing a lot.

Nate McKinnon, on playing against Danault.

 

[kingrussell]

Danault is a great signing. He's good on faceoffs and penalty kills,very solid defensively and better offensively than given credit for. I like it.

 

[jt]

Yes, I was listening to Nhl network radio all afternoon during the free agency window. They like the player but weren't crazy about the price. Also wondered why the Kings were getting another center.

Personally I'd have gone all in on Hamilton rather then Edler + Danault.

Edit: the guy got praise too. He's one of the best shutdown forwards in the NHL. That's not in doubt. He's just not much of a scorer and that was with some decently talented wingers.

There's a range of being "not crazy about the price." They did NOT have a big problem with it.

Really? I could swear I read about this possibility several days ago. I just can't remember where....

jom

Freidman basically called it three days ago on either 31 Thoughts or Hockey Central.

 

[DarkLeftHand]

Another thing to keep in mind here is that, due to the taxation in the state of California, the Kings likely have to overpay in general just to keep the take home salary of the player similar to what it would be in other states. Then there are now teams in Seattle, Vegas, Florida, Tampa Bay, Nashville and Dallas where the players pay NO state income tax. That certainly makes for an advantage when those teams are trying to squeeze every last dollar out of their salary cap. The article in the link below does a good job of showing just how great the inequity is between different states and provinces.

https://hockey-graphs.com/2019/01/08/how-much-do-nhl-players-really-make-part-2-taxes/

California is certainly not the worst, but if you look at Burns and Kopitar on the chart, they are only out-taxed by the players in Montreal and Toronto. Even McDavid in Edmonton pays less in taxes! A side by side comparison of Brent Burns(SJ) and PK Subban(nashville) shows just how large the disparity is between two players with the exact same salary. Subban clears 1.43 million more than Burns does on an identical 10 million dollar annual salary. So I would say this absolutely plays a factor when a player is struggling to decide between 2 or 3 teams competing for his services.

 

[Helvetica]

Wow, that's a deep dive into his stats. And they are very, very impressive stats. I'm warming up to this signing a lot.

Nate McKinnon, on playing against Danault.

2:12:00 for those of you who dont want to sift through it all

 

[Sultanic]

Yes, I was listening to Nhl network radio all afternoon during the free agency window. They like the player but weren't crazy about the price. Also wondered why the Kings were getting another center.

Personally I'd have gone all in on Hamilton rather then Edler + Danault.

Edit: the guy got praise too. He's one of the best shutdown forwards in the NHL. That's not in doubt. He's just not much of a scorer and that was with some decently talented wingers.

Hamilton?

After drafting Clarke, Faber and Grans in the last two years and Jordan Spence looking more and more likely to reach the NHL? With Doughty, Roy and Walker already on the roster?

Hamilton was the worst deal of the day. He is a very good offensive option, but he is a supporting/secondary player and not a driver. Good hand to have, but he just got a #1 defender deal.

Danault IS an impact player, just not in the sexy ways some fans freak out about.

The biggest need on the Kings roster is on-ice accountability. Players who hold up to pressure and don't wilt, especially in the most vital areas of the ice. That could not be said of last years roster, or honestly any Kings roster in the past five years. No one player can change that for a team, but one player who gets key shifts in those vital situations can make a huge difference on a game. Danault is that type of player, accountability first and foremost. Players like that take pressure off of the rest of the roster and allow them to be slotted in positions to maximize their particular skills.

Free agency is always costly, its a tax in and of itself. Preference is to draft and develop, then trade if you have to, then sign as a last result.

Danault may not put up gaudy numbers, but he is going to be here longer than Anze, and he is the kind of player who will allow the kids to come in when ready with support and knowledge that they won't have to take on the harder assignments.

Edler is a safety net and perfect partner for Walker. He can play big, steady minutes, but likely won't have to. He's a good fit for Anderson and Bjornfot to study, while taking on bigger penalty kill minutes. Plus, at one year, he fits in perfectly with the likely next scenario...

The Kings now have the cover in place to take the next year to seek out a mega deal for a real impact defenseman, with plenty to spend in assets and cap. No need to rush into anything at all, this can be an extended search to overpay for exactly what they want.

In the meantime, the acquisitions of Arvidsson, Danault and Edler increase the speed, skill, tenacity and accountability of the current roster at just the cost of a couple picks. The table is much better set to introduce kids to the league as opposed to the disastererous tone of last year. Conservatively, their goal differential is likely around +50 to last year with these additions.

With the Brandt Clarke pick, the last few weeks have been incredibly positive.

 

[05/29/93]

Hamilton?

After drafting Clarke, Faber and Grans in the last two years and Jordan Spence looking more and more likely to reach the NHL? With Doughty, Roy and Walker already on the roster?

Hamilton was the worst deal of the day. He is a very good offensive option, but he is a supporting/secondary player and not a driver. Good hand to have, but he just got a #1 defender deal.

Danault IS an impact player, just not in the sexy ways some fans freak out about.

The biggest need on the Kings roster is on-ice accountability. Players who hold up to pressure and don't wilt, especially in the most vital areas of the ice. That could not be said of last years roster, or honestly any Kings roster in the past five years. No one player can change that for a team, but one player who gets key shifts in those vital situations can make a huge difference on a game. Danault is that type of player, accountability first and foremost. Players like that take pressure off of the rest of the roster and allow them to be slotted in positions to maximize their particular skills.

Free agency is always costly, its a tax in and of itself. Preference is to draft and develop, then trade if you have to, then sign as a last result.

Danault may not put up gaudy numbers, but he is going to be here longer than Anze, and he is the kind of player who will allow the kids to come in when ready with support and knowledge that they won't have to take on the harder assignments.

Edler is a safety net and perfect partner for Walker. He can play big, steady minutes, but likely won't have to. He's a good fit for Anderson and Bjornfot to study, while taking on bigger penalty kill minutes. Plus, at one year, he fits in perfectly with the likely next scenario...

The Kings now have the cover in place to take the next year to seek out a mega deal for a real impact defenseman, with plenty to spend in assets and cap. No need to rush into anything at all, this can be an extended search to overpay for exactly what they want.

In the meantime, the acquisitions of Arvidsson, Danault and Edler increase the speed, skill, tenacity and accountability of the current roster at just the cost of a couple picks. The table is much better set to introduce kids to the league as opposed to the disastererous tone of last year. Conservatively, their goal differential is likely around +50 to last year with these additions.

With the Brandt Clarke pick, the last few weeks have been incredibly positive.

As Jim Rome would say back in the 690 days (maybe still does): "Rack him!".

 

[Ice24]

Last season we saw game after game how many times teams would score in bunches against the Kings. Hopefully a player like this will rub off on his teammates and they will hold themselves accountable on the defensive end?