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The Danault Habs’ Trade Conspiracy? Probably Not, But Good Fun

Did Phillip Danault plan his own Canadiens saga? Probably not — but this perfect rebuild-and-return story is fun to imagine.

by
Old Prof
December 27, 2025

Every once in a while, you find a thought in the oddest place. Suddenly, the dominoes fall — logical, but probably totally fictional. This one came from Reddit and lays out how Phillip Danault planned his five-year absence so he could return to his home province to help his former Montreal Canadiens team win the Stanley Cup.

Creating a Canadiens Conspiracy Theory Around Danault

Every fan base has one of these stories. The kind you don’t fully believe, but also don’t completely dismiss. This one starts in 2021, when Phillip Danault skated through the Stanley Cup Final with the Canadiens and learned a hard truth the long way.

They were close. But without Carey Price playing like a myth, they weren’t winning it all. Not really. Danault knew it. He also knew something else — something a little less flattering. He was too good at what he did.

As long as Danault was in Montreal, the Canadiens were never going to bottom out properly. You can’t tank cleanly when you’ve got a centre who shuts down top lines, wins hard minutes, and drags games into the mud. He made teams respectable when they might have needed to be awful.

Danault Did It Right By Leaving the Canadiens for the Kings

So Danault did the noble thing. He signed for $5.5 million with the Los Angeles Kings. Not only did he leave, but he also went as far away as possible. The West Coast. California. With him out of the Canadiens’ lineup, almost immediately, Montreal fell apart. What followed were three years of pain—draft lottery nights. Long rebuild conversations. Just the kind of destruction you need if you’re serious about starting over.

Meanwhile, Danault went to work. Every spring, here he was with the black and silver Kings, lining up against Connor McDavid again and again. By losing some battles, but winning others, he sharpened his key weapon. His defensive excellence is now at its highest level. If you want to power up as a shutdown centre, there’s no better training program than playoff McDavid.

Back in Montreal, the Canadiens Were Building Slowly

Back in Montreal, the damage was doing its job. The draft picks hit. The roster slowly got meaner, faster, more dangerous. Nick Suzuki grew. Cole Caufield arrived. Juraj Slafkovský developed. Lane Hutson became one of the bright lights on the blue line.

The team stopped being fragile and started being interesting. Then — only then — Danault made his move. He asked for a trade when his value was low as a second-round pick. And suddenly, there he was again. Back in Montreal. Older. Smarter. Still elite at the exact thing this younger, more aggressive Canadiens team needed.

The missing piece.

Canadiens Conspiracy Theory Fiction, Right?

Was it planned? Of course. Probably not. But if you wanted to design the perfect arc for Phillip Danault and the Canadiens — burn it down, grow it back up, then slide him into a role built precisely for his strengths — you’d be hard-pressed to draw it up better.

A conspiracy theory? Sure. But sometimes, the best stories are the ones we wish were true.