Danault: Among the best at his profession

MONTREAL - For a second straight season, Phillip Danault has been posting numbers that could earn him votes for the Frank J. Selke Trophy.

Danault, who's in his fifth campaign in the NHL, is among the elite at his position.
On top of facing opposing teams' top lines night in and night out, the 27-year-old forward has managed to rack up the points at even strength as well.
In fact, Danault has amassed 43 of his 47 points at five-on-five, which ranks him 16th among NHL centers. Those 43 points place him ahead of the three most recent winners of the Selke Trophy - Ryan O'Reilly (41 points), Anze Kopitar (40 points), and Patrice Bergeron (34 points).

The Quebecer is also in front of Elias Pettersson (40 points) and John Tavares (39 points) in that category.
An even more impressive statistic is that Danault is 14th in the NHL with 31 assists at five-on-five, tied with none other than Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. The Canadiens center is ahead of a whole host of NHL stars in this category, too, such as Mark Stone (30A), Nikita Kucherov (30A), David Pastrnak (29A), Steven Stamkos (28A), Sean Couturier (28A), Aleksander Barkov (28A), Anze Kopitar (27A), Jack Eichel (26A) and Patrice Bergeron (16A).
With 12 games to go in 2019-20, Danault already matched his career high in goals of 13, which he did in 82 games with the Habs in 2016-17.

Defensive game strong for Danault
Danault has also been effective on defense. Facing opposing team's top lines is no cake walk, but the Chicago Blackhawks' first-round choice (26th overall) in 2011 is still eighth in the League with a plus-18 differential.
Bergeron (plus-22) and Couturier (plus-22) are the only two centers facing opposing teams' top lines who are ahead of Danault in plus-minus.

The Victoriaville native is an important cog on the Habs' penalty kill. He's third-most in shorthanded ice time among NHL centers with 175:19.
Danault has also blocked 37 shots and generated 34 turnovers this season.
Solid in the circle
The 6-foot-1, 201-pounder is the sixth-busiest center in the NHL this season. Danault has taken 1,321 faceoffs in 2019-20, winning 54.7% of them.

The Canadiens have won 2,122 draws in 2019-20, good for second in the League behind the Philadelphia Flyers. Danault has won 722 puck-drops, which represents 34.02% of the team's faceoff wins.
Those numbers have him ranked sixth in this department as well.
We'll have to wait and see if Danault will be invited to the NHL Awards in June in Las Vegas.