Cowan: There's no place like home for Canadiens' Phillip Danault

Phillip Danault can’t wait to take his six-year-old son skating on an outdoor rink.

It’s part of what makes the 32-year-old centre’s return to Montreal for a second stint with the Canadiens so special to him and his family.

Danault and his wife, Marie-Pierre Fortin, have two children, including a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter who Danault has said was conceived the night the Canadiens eliminated the Vegas Golden Knights in the semifinals of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. Danault set up Artturi Lehkonen for the winning goal in overtime of Game 6 at the Bell Centre on St-Jean Baptiste Day in Quebec.

GM Kent Hughes gave Danault and his family an early Christmas gift when he acquired the Victoriaville native from the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 18 in exchange for one of two second-round picks the Canadiens held for this year’s NHL Draft.

Danault played his first game back at the Bell Centre with the Canadiens Wednesday night, picking up an assist while logging 18:22 of ice time and winning 13-of-15 faceoffs in a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames. He was named the game’s third star.

It was an emotional night for Danault, starting with his walk from the Bell Centre parking lot to the Canadiens’ locker room.

“The last time I was parking there it was during the (2021 Stanley) Cup final,” Danault said. “So lots of memories and emotion in the game. The fans were outstanding.”

During the entirety of a five-minute TV timeout in the third period, fans did the wave while the Bell Centre DJ smartly turned off the blaring music that normally plays and allowed the fans to enjoy themselves.

“The wave was unbelievable,” Danault said. “Just electric and not surprised. I missed it … I missed it a lot.”

The Canadiens have changed a lot since Danault left Montreal following the Cup final loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning after a contract dispute with former GM Marc Bergevin. He signed a six-year, US$33-million contract with the Kings as a free agent.

There’s now a new Canadiens management team headed by Jeff Gorton, the president of hockey operations, a new head coach in Martin St. Louis and only five other players remain with the team from 2021 — Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson and Jake Evans.

Danault isn’t the same offensive player he was when he left Montreal — otherwise he’d still be with the Kings — but this Canadiens team has no problems scoring goals. The youngest team in the NHL ranked sixth in the NHL in offence after Wednesday’s win, scoring an average of 3.33 goals per game, and had a chance to move into first place in the Atlantic Division with a win over the Florida Panthers Thursday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS). Danault said the thing that has impressed him most about the Canadiens is the maturity of the young players.

Danault has one more season left on his contract with a US$5.5 million salary-cap hit. Hughes said Tuesday the veteran fills a lot of short-term needs for the team, including experience, defence, faceoffs, penalty-killing and the fact he’s a left-shot centre. Suzuki, Evans and Oliver Kapanen all shoot right.

Danault had no goals and five assists in 30 games with the Kings this season. He’s still looking for his first goal, but had three assists in seven games with the Canadiens before facing the Panthers and had won 63.4 per cent of his faceoffs.

He makes the Canadiens a better team.

After Wednesday’s game I asked St. Louis what he appreciates most about Danault as a player.

“I mean tonight I think he was 13-2 in draws,” the coach said. “It’s hard to not put that at the top. But I appreciate he plays the game that’s in front of him, so there’s not much risk in his game. If he does take a risk it’s calculated. So to me his maturity, I respect that a lot, and that comes with experience. I would say his experience I respect and I’m getting to know the human also.”

Danault and his wife are still looking for a new home and trying to get their kids into a new school.

“Obviously, my kids went to English school only (in L.A.) so we want to keep that going, even though they speak perfect French,” Danault said. “But it’s hard to get in.”

On Tuesday, Danault’s wife and their two children were at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard to watch the Canadiens practice. Afterward, Danault spent about 30 minutes on the ice with his son.

Danault grew up in Victoriaville and met his future wife there. As a young boy, he would watch the first period of Canadiens games on TV and then go skating on the backyard rink his father built.

“It means a lot,” Danault said about being back in Montreal. “My kids were too young to live this passion. So I’m really happy to be here. I’ll get my son on an outdoor rink, maybe.”

Danault was very happy to leave the sunshine of L.A. for winter in Montreal.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s in my DNA. I’m born in February.”

The Canadiens are also in Danault’s DNA.

scowan@postmedia.com

x.com/StuCowan1

Related