NHL trade rumors: 3 teams who should trade for Phillip Danault

3. Minnesota Wild

For years, the Minnesota Wild have been anchored down the middle by the eternally underrated Mikko Koivu. Even in his old age, he remained a defensive wizard. The Wild are prepared to move on from him, which means they’re going to need another center. Danault could make a lot of sense for them.

First of all, Koivu was the only center who took at least 160 faceoffs for the Wild this season and won over half of them. Eric Staal, Joel Eriksson Ek, Luke Kunin, and Victor Rask each won less than 50% of their faceoffs. Danault won 54.5% of his faceoffs despite taking 1,336 of them. Koivu’s been their go-to faceoff guy for years. Danault could slide into that role quite easily.

Secondly, Danault has been quite impactful defensively, much like Koivu in his prime. He had a bit of an off-year in 2018-19 and it shouldn’t be completely ignored, but looking at his career, it’s most likely a fluke.

However, there could be a bit of a holdup. The Wild’s most valuable trade chip is probably Matthew Dumba. He’s right-handed. The Canadiens already have Shea Weber and Jeff Petry on the right side. However, if the Wild are willing to trade Jonas Brodin instead, he’s left-handed and he’d make quite a bit of sense for the Canadiens.

I’m not entirely sure if the Wild would be willing to make a deal involving a first round pick or a top prospect for Danault, whose contract expires after next season. Maybe they would if an extension was involved, though.