Phillip Danault decided to leave the Montreal Canadiens organization this summer, as he wanted to have a bigger offensive role. Because of this, Danault came to an agreement with the Los Angeles Kings, who according to Danault, were willing to offer him what he wanted. Danault wanted ice time on the top-six and on the power play by signing in California.
However, when Danault signed with Los Angeles, he was not necessarily looking at the Kings' hierarchy of centers. In addition to Anze Kopitar, the Kings have a slew of young centers that could be the face of the team in the near future. Quinton Byfield, Gabe Vilardi, Alex Turcotte and Rasmus Kupari come to mind.
The Kings must have changed their plan with Phillip Danault a bit, as he is not used with the Kings' big wingers. He has been mostly used alongside Alex Iafallo and Vladimir Tkachev since the start of Kings training camp.
Iafallo is a good depth player who can bring his share of points and Vladimir Tkachev, who is making a return to North America after being exiled for 6 seasons. Without taking anything away from these two players, Montreal could have provided a better quality of linemates for Danault than the Kings can currently provide. If Danault had stayed, maybe he would be the one playing center to Drouin and Anderson.
This is all speculation, but it's a pretty funny situation. I would be greatly surprised if the Quebecer was used as well elsewhere as he was in Montreal... The Kings' plan obviously speaks for itself. In my book, this is not a real chance to grow offensively in the case of number 24. He might as well have stayed here...
