Phillip Danault spins the perfect happiness in Los Angeles.
On the eve of starting his second season with the Kings, the Quebecer told Jean-Charles Lajoie on Wednesday that his decision to leave for California had been the best of his career.
“Until you do it, you don’t believe it. But I believed in my ability to generate offense. I believed that I could be used better on the ice and be used differently. I had Anze Kopitar in front of me. I wasn’t just taking face-offs in defensive territory. I was extremely well taken advantage of. They saw the same thing I saw in myself. Everything just clicked.”
Despite everything, Danault takes positives from his time with the Canadiens. However, he had known for a long time that the end of this stay was approaching.
“From the start of the season, I knew it. There was nothing going on in the negotiations. We had no feedback and things were coming out in the media. It was mentally difficult the first 20 games. In addition, my offensive production was not there. I had been in Montreal for six years. At some point, it starts to come in mentally. It was certain that it was magical to play in Montreal and I loved it, but there were other things in my game that I had to go and exploit elsewhere.
The centerman remained very honest when asked his reaction when Marc Bergevin was hired by the Kings.
“I was not jumping for joy. He is the one who kicked me out of Montreal. He didn’t believe in the facet of the game that I wanted to continue to develop. He was heading in a different direction. We spoke again. We ate an ice cream and everything is fine now.
Asked whether he could consider one day accepting a contract like the one Patrice Bergeron signed with the Bruins to come and end his career in Montreal, the Quebecer said his situation was very different from that of the Boston captain.
“If you’ve made enough money in your life and it gives you one more chance of winning, that’s something that can happen. It also depends on the role and the state of your body at the end of your career. Patrice is a real one and he shows respect for an organization that has respected him all his career too.
Watch the interview in the video above.