NHL Free Agency: Looking at five intriguing UFA’s still on the board

4. Phillip Danault

Set to hit the open market after not agreeing to terms on a new deal with the Montreal Canadiens, Phillip Danault will be a good fit for those teams needing to address center depth.

One of those teams are the Vegas Golden Knights who have interest in Danault, per reports, and it would make sense given that they traded face of the franchise Marc-Andre Fleury to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, thus clearing cap space.

With around $6 million in space, per CapFriendly, they would have the room to sign Danault to a deal and the 28-year-old would be the ideal third-line pivot the Knights have long craved.

The New York Rangers are another team that desperately needs center depth and they could be in the market for Danault, who would no doubt relish the opportunity to play at Madison Square Garden.

Now, and this is a fairly obvious statement, but fit is important here given that Danault won’t provide a boatload of offense, as backed up by his one goal in the 2020-21 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but he’s a shutdown forward that is incredibly responsible in his own zone, he’s elite on the penalty kill, he can log big minutes and he’s very good in the faceoff circle.