That welcome-to-L.A. moment can be different for every incoming player. For Kings center Phillip Danault, it didn’t happen in a coffee shop or on the beach. But it did unfold in a pitch-perfect South Bay way.
“One person riding by on a golf cart said to me, ‘Go Kings Go,’” Danault said, chuckling.
It should be noted that this didn’t actually happen on a golf course. A cart is a ubiquitous mode of transport in some Southern California communities, along with skateboards and scooters.
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Danault’s assimilation with the Kings – on and off the ice – has been virtually seamless. With a six-year, $33-million contract, the Kings added one of the best defensive centers in the league with the hope that he could stabilize the team’s second line and take some of the pressure off Anze Kopitar in the faceoff circle – and pressure off himself.
Through his tenure in Montreal, Danault often was trusted to start play in his own zone in a shutdown role. That still holds true in Los Angeles – his ice time rises in close situations, whether the team is trailing by a goal, is tied or, even more so, while holding a tight lead. But with his new team, the pivot is seeing more offensive starts too; his usage is split more than in years past. That helps alleviate Kopitar, who was the primary center tasked with that role last year, and allows both to see a better mix of offensive and defensive situations.
“To have Kopi in front of me is awesome,” Danault said. “I can watch him play and we can help each other. In Montreal, I was the only one taking all those draws. And so was Kopi (in L.A.). We helped each other a lot.
“(Kings coach) Todd (McLellan) is using me the right way too, and differently. Not just defensively but offensively as well. To be in the O-zone more rather than just D-zone and faceoffs. I really appreciate that.”
The center has rewarded that usage by adding another offensive component to a team seeking better scoring balance.
After 45 games, Danault has scored 12 goals, one from matching his career-high. The 12 goals are all at even strength and his shooting percentage is 11.4, a meaningful improvement from the 6.8 in his final season last year in Montreal.
Danault said he has gotten the chance to “spread his wings” with the Kings.
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“I think I wanted to be used differently than I was in Montreal,” he said in an interview with The Athletic. “I wanted to be a better player overall. I wanted to show myself I could do better in all situations, push my game to another level.
“I didn’t want to be stuck in one role. That’s what I felt in Montreal. It was time for me to move on and prove myself.”
It’s been a long time since Danault has had a chance to show that there is an offensive component to his game.
Despite his deployment over the years, Danault still made a positive impact offensively at five-on-five for his team. But his elite defensive play is what drove his usage.
Via HockeyViz
“To be honest, I didn’t have as much fun toward the end, even though we went to the Stanley Cup Final,” he said. “I was doing my role — what it takes to win. At that time, I thought I could bring more to the team.”
With the Kings, Danault came out of COVID-19 protocol after the Christmas break, at which point McLellan reconfigured the second line, putting Trevor Moore and Viktor Arvidsson with Danault against the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 30.
One game later, the line combined for 11 points in a win against the Philadelphia Flyers. Of Danault’s 12 goals, eight have come since he joined Moore and Arvidsson.
“My wingers are great for me,” Danault said. “As a team, too, we play real solid defensively. Yes, we don’t score seven goals a game but we can score goals off mistakes and capitalize. It’s going the right way now. We’re working well defensively and that’s what brings offense, too. We’re dedicated.
“We’re way more in the O-zone than the D-zone, which brings more chances to score goals.”
The Moore-Danault-Arvidsson trio now has been together for 184 minutes of five-on-five play. In that time, they’ve driven play to a 65 percent expected goals rate. They’re stronger than average defensively, which is no surprise given the middle of that line, but what stands out is just how much offense they create. Among lines with at least 50 minutes of ice time together, they rank in the top five in on-ice shot rate and scoring-chance generation. The Kings are generating 4.41 expected goals for when they are deployed, which is 73 percent(!) stronger than average, as the heat map shows below in red.
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Via HockeyViz
Their actual results – 3.9 goals per 60 – doesn’t quite reach those heights but is still the best scoring rate of the Kings’ forward combinations.
Danault wasn’t the only member of the line to get a fresh start in L.A. Moore, acquired from the Maple Leafs in the Jack Campbell trade, hadn’t found a meaningful role with the Kings until he got a chance to play up with Danault, which has helped boost his scoring rate from last year.
It’s another example of how chemistry on a line can sometimes click inexplicably.
“I knew that he was a really hard-working player,” Danault said. “That’s one other guy who needed to leave a place to spread his wings, to get a chance.
“He’s proving to everyone he’s a very solid player – maybe even more than that. He’s been good for us and you need that kind of player on your team. He’s a great person, great teammate and very humble. I love his work ethic.
“Sometimes all you need is a little tap on the back and an organization that believes in you and the way you see yourself.”
What makes them work so well together is that each brings a complementary skill. Danault is the two-way force, while Moore helps get plays into the offensive zone at a really high rate, even if half aren’t with control. Danault and Arvidsson don’t bring the puck over the blue line as often, but do so with control in most instances. Still, sometimes a line just needs the puck chipped in to get to work.
As for Arvidsson, the original plan was that he might see time with Kopitar on the top line. The Kings tried it but discovered he was actually a better fit with Danault.
The winger was coming off a couple of down years. His scoring rate peaked in 2018-19 at five-on-five at 2.52 points per 60, and dropped one full point below that last year. This season, it’s back on the rise at 2.01 per 60.
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What’s contributed to that?
Arvidsson is back to his shooting ways this season, attempting a career-high 22.2 shots per 60 after two years of career-lows. It’s not just a matter of volume shooting, either. Based on the quality of his attempts, his expected goal rate has picked up, too. Also influencing that xG rate is that a lot of his chances come off the rush. In fact, he’s expected to be closer to about nine goals at five-on-five, but finishing is just a team-wide problem this year.
For as much as he’s shooting, though, he’s also helping set up his teammates. He’s not as frequent of a passer as Moore and Danault, but he makes the best of those plays in quality. Of this trio, he has the highest rate of high-danger passes, while linemates Danault and Moore see quite a few of their shots preceded by that dangerous puck movement. That brings the line to have one all-around shooter in Arvidsson and two players who lean toward quality shots above all else.
“I’ve always liked (Arvidsson), ” Danault said. “He’s a complete player, a really good goal scorer, good skill and can pass the puck, too. He competes hard in the D-zone. That’s why the chemistry has been really good. We’re all dedicated to the game and want to get better every day. We want to be the difference every single night.”
Danault’s first NHL stop was Chicago, and he didn’t get a genuine chance to establish himself as an NHL regular until he was traded to Montreal. His time with the Canadiens was seminal in his career evolution and now he’s gotten a chance with the Kings to take it up a notch.
Danault described life in L.A. as “awesome.”
“Obviously it was nice in Montreal, too,” he said. “I’m very blessed. I thank God every day to have that experience. To go to the Stanley Cup Final in Montreal was a dream come true. But I was ready for a new chapter — a quiet life for my little family.
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“I didn’t need that extra pressure because I put pressure on myself every single day anyway.”
Data via Evolving-Hockey, AllThreeZones and HockeyViz. This story relies on shot-based metrics; here are primers (part 1, part 2) on these numbers.
(Photo of Phillip Danault: André Ringuette / NHLI via Getty Images)
