As per Pierre LeBrun of TSN, during the Insider Trading segment on Thursday, he noted that the Montreal Canadiens have elected not to make an additional offer to center Phillip Danault prior to NHL free agency opening up on July 28th. It was noted that the Canadiens are open to bringing him back, but after turning down the Canadiens original offer, GM Marc Bergevin won’t be coming back to the table.
LeBrun called Danault a key piece of business for the Canadiens to take care of, but it doesn’t sound like the organization is taking the next baby step towards an agreement. Instead, the plan is to let Danault hit the open market, see what is available and leave the door open for him to come back to the team, should he want to.
Related: Canadiens’ Shea Weber Dealing with Potential Career Threatening Injury
Danault was made an offer last offseason, which he rejected. LeBrun said, “My sense at this time is that the Habs aren’t planning a new offer.”
This is a gamble if the Canadiens want to keep Danault. After such a strong defensive performance, he’s an ideal top-nine center for a competitive team and also a potential top-six forward in the right situations. He could get plucked off the market rather quickly. At the same time, if he’s asking in excess of $5 million per season, there might not be a lot of teams will to give that to him. The hope from Bergevin’s perspective would be market is underwhelming and Danault comes back with a different outlook as to his value and individual situation.
Big Changes for the Canadiens?
After an offseason where Bergevin added key pieces that were crucial to the team’s playoff run, within a couple of days, new reports suggest the Canadiens could look quite different again. If Danualt leaves, he’ll be the second big name that comes off the roster as news that Shea Weber won’t be back next season dominated hockey conversation on Wednesday.
Weber has a ton of injuries issues that, after seeing the doctor, have been ruled as potentially career threatening. Could part of the Canadiens mindset towards Danault be because the Canadiens plan on doing something big with the money that will be coming off the books if Weber’s cap hit is on LTIR and they aren’t paying for Danault?
Arpon Basu writes, “This, as is the case with everything this time of year, could obviously change with one phone call. This is also posturing season.” Perhaps, this is all just Bergevin putting his chips on table and seeing if Danault calls or folds.
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