The Montreal Canadiens have had a lot of pleasant surprises this season: Lehkonen, Byron, Radulov – and the one that Marc Bergevin seemed to be the only person in hockey to know about in Phillip Danault. 

Danault has gone from fringe player in Chicago to first-line centre in Montreal, and he makes other first-line players look good. 

Max Pacioretty has 19 goals in his last 30 games, one of the best stretches of his career, and most are with Danault as his centre.

“Every play starts with Phil. He’s skating all over the ice. It’s not always going to be the play that upstairs notices, but his linemates appreciate and notice. He makes it easy on us and he allows Radulov to see the puck with time and space and make a play from there,” said Pacioretty.

“I think it's destiny,” said Danault. “I believe in that. They gave me a big chance too. Mike trusts me a lot. That gave me confidence, so I build on that every day.”

“He's absolutely a completely different player from last year. Not to say he was bad last year but it's hard to come into a new environment,” said the captain.

A first-round draft choice out of Chicago, Danault was taking a long time to develop. Most had given up on him, with the exception of Bergevin, who was so excited about acquiring Danault, he actually phoned Pacioretty to tell him the night of the deal.

“Right before the trade, I remember getting a call from Bergevin and it was right around the trade deadline. I was freaking out with my wife and I was like, ‘Uh-oh, Berge is calling.’ And he says, ‘We just got this guy Danault and I’ve known him for a while, scouting him and he's going to be a big part of this team for a long time,” said Pacioretty.

“Oh that's awesome,” said Danault. “You can tell that Berg is close to his players… I didn't know at the time that I was going be so effective for the team.”

“He's really responsible,” said coach Michel Therrien “You have to be responsible when you go on the ice. I’m pleased. I'm thrilled with his progression. I can’t forget he's a young player. He's learning. He wants to get better. That's all a coach could ask for.”

The emergence of Danault between Radulov and Pacioretty has given the head coach to the opportunity to spread out his talent all through his forward lines.

That means centre Alex Galchenyuk will play with Andrew Shaw and David Desharnais on his flanks Thursday night in Philadelphia.