Danault is a UFA after this year and probably will want an expensive contract, probably want another guy with longer term

No.
Saad is playing very well on that second line, and I would break it up because of how important depth scoring is. And sure Danault is good but idk if he can be as good as Saad

likely just a one year thing. saad is a ufa too. just a swap of players.

i guess it depends on how long mackinnon is out. compher shouldn't be a top 6 c.

I'd say with the way the Habs are playing, they're not going to let Danault go. They keep him for this season then figure it out in the off-season, even if he walks.

He’s our best defensive c and the only one who can win faceoffs

We have no reason to swap these player though. Who plays C? We only have 3 top 9 C, and much more depth on the wing. This makes no sense for Montréal.

Yeah don’t see MTL doing that. Saad is playing great but C is inherently more valuable than W

not for purely hockey reasons anyway. if the situation with danault turns ugly than it's not a bad option.

Avs would easily do that. Having an elite defensive C on this team would be awesome. Not a huge fan of Donskoi on the 2nd line but a scoring winger could probably be had at the deadline at a reasonable price.

That said, I can't see Bergevin doing this. Montreal have a lot of wingers already so Saad doesn't really fill a need. Anderson, Tatar, Drouin, Toffoli, Armia, Lehkonen, Gallagher.... that's 7 good top 9 forwards. Danault is more important to them than adding another forward.

If the situation with Danault turns ugly it will be because he's not happy with the amount of opportunities he's getting in offensive situations where he could boost his scoring totals in a contract year. Coming to Colorado to be our 3C and shutdown C wouldn't solve that for him. I would absolutely LOVE to have a shutdown 3rd line of Nichuskin-Danault-Jost to roll out against top lines though.

What do you mean if the situation turns ugly? If Danault doesn’t sign an extension, it’s the same as any other pending UFA. If there’s any frustration from Danault it would be because he can’t re-sign with the habs. Trading him so that he can’t even play for the habs this year won’t remedy that.

i don't see him as a long term solution. so it's only for a playoff run he'd be with the team. bednar isn't as strict defensively as julien. i dont think he'd be an issue for the short period of time he's here

well he was complaining in the media at the end of last season. if kk takes his ice time this season i don't know that he'll respond well.

What exactly was his “complaining”? And no one is taking anyone’s ice time. The habs are rolling four lines this year. The only way that anyone’s ice time could change is if someone gets injured, and that could only increase Phil’s ice time, not decrease.

something along the lines of him not being happy with is role with the team.

Bednar tried to create a shutdown line last playoffs with Landeskog -- Kadri -- Nichuskin, and I'm sure he would do that again with Danault centering Nichuskin and Jost this time around. Even if Bednar doesn't make it a true shutdown line and just rolls all lines without matching them up Danault would likely still be playing between Nichuskin and Donskoi who aren't exactly renowned for their offense, so his numbers wouldn't really be where he'd want them to be in a contract year.

Maybe we'd see a return of the Nichuskin - Kadri - Burakovsky line though, and then have Saad - Danault - Donskoi as the 3rd line. That would basically give the team two legitimate "2nd" lines in the middle 6.

Danault wouldn't get much PP time though, but rather get used on the PK more, and that wouldn't make him happy.

That was in the bubble against Pittsburgh iirc. Montreal briefly separated the Tatar-Danault-Gallagher line and were using Kotka and Suzuki more, and Danault wasn't happy with that. They've since reverted back to his normal line though.

just checked. aug 26th which was a few days after the habs were eliminated.

since then danault turned down their extension offer. i think he wants to go somewhere new.

Oh, you mean being used in an offensive role. Yeah, that’s because we had no depth in the playoffs, so Julien decided to put Danault on a line that was essentially used purely as a shutdown line with Lehkonen and Byron. Now we have depth, and Claude is able to put Danault back on the 1st line with Tatar & Gallagher.

I don't think he wants to leave, as he's from that area and so is his wife. But he wants to get paid like a 2C, and wants the opportunities to produce like one so he can get paid. He apparently turned down a $5m x 6 offer in the offseason.

You're right. But Denault better not let the situation turn ugly. Teams are looking at him as a UFA. Best thing is to buckle down and play outstanding.
IMO, money isn't everything, but I doubt if Denault even gets 5m X 6 as a UFA, the offer he supposedly turned down.