In a recent article for The Athletic, Jeremy Rutherford and Chris Johnston looked at eight St. Louis Blues who could be traded, with the Central Division club being open to making moves. One of the players discussed was forward Jake Neighbours. 

In the article, the Pittsburgh Penguins were named as a team that could have interest in Neighbours. 

If the Blues end up making Neighbours available for trade, it would make a lot of sense for the Penguins to make a push for him. At 23 years old, he would have the potential to be an excellent long-term fit on a retooling team on the Penguins. Furthermore, he would also help them immediately, which would be a good thing when noting that Pittsburgh is still in the playoff race even with their recent struggles. 

In 24 games so far this season with the Blues, Neighbours has recorded eight goals, seven assists, 15 points, and 64 hits. This is after he had 22 goals, 46 points, and 173 hits in 82 games this past season with the Blues. With numbers like these, he would give the Penguins an impactful power forward to work with in their top nine if acquired.

It will be interesting to see if the Penguins end up making a push for Neighbours, but the fit looks good on paper. 

A former Chicago Blackhawks forward is on the move.

The Montreal Canadiens have announced that they have acquired former Chicago Blackhawks forward Phillip Danault from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick.

Danault had been one of the NHL's top trade candidates, and the Canadiens were one of the clubs that he was heavily linked to. Now, with this move, the former Blackhawks forward is set to begin his second tenure as a member of the Canadiens.

Danault will be looking to bounce back with the Canadiens, as he has had a tough start to the 2025-26 season. In 30 games so far this campaign, he has recorded zero goals and five assists. This is after he had eight goals and 43 points in 80 games this past season with the Kings. 

Danault kicked off his NHL career with the Blackhawks, as the Central Division club selected him in the first round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft with the 26th overall pick. From there, Danault played two seasons with the Blackhawks from 2014-15 to 2015-16, where he recorded one goal and five points in 32 games.

Danault's time with the Blackhawks ended during the 2015-16 season when he was traded to the Canadiens with a 2018 second-round pick in exchange for Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann. He would break out and become a solid top-six two-way center with the Canadiens following the move. 

The Columbus Blue Jackets are at Honda Center to take on the Anaheim Ducks at 10 PM.   

Anaheim Ducks - 20-12-2 - 42 Points - 5-4-1 in the last 10 - 2nd in the Atlantic

Columbus Blue Jackets - 14-14-6 - 34 Points - 3-5-2 in the last 10 - 8th in the Metro  

Blue Jackets Stats

• Power Play - 18.1% - 18th in the NHL
• Penalty Kill - 72.0% - 30th in the NHL
• Goals For - 98 - 20th in the NHL
• Goals Against - 119 - 31st in the NHL

Ducks Stats

• Power Play - 17.7% - 21st in the NHL
• Penalty Kill - 76.3% - 27th in the NHL
• Goals For - 120 - 3rd in the NHL
• Goals Against - 120 - 25th in the NHL

Series History vs. The Ducks

• Columbus is 32-29-1-8 all-time, and 15-16-1-3 on the road vs. Anaheim.
• The Jackets are 2-1-2 in the last 5 games against the Ducks.
• The CBJ have gone 5-of-19 on the PP in the last 6 games.
• The Blue Jackets have killed off 46 straight Ducks man-advantages.

Who To Watch For The Ducks

• Leo Carlsson leads the Ducks 41 points.
• Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson lead the team with 24 assists each.
• Cutter Gauthier leads Anaheim with 18 goals.
• Lukáš Dostál 12-6-1 with a SV% of .905. He started and won last night against the Rangers.
• Goalie Carter Ville Husso is 5-3-1 with a SV% of .884. He started and lost against the Jackets this past Tuesday.

CBJ Player Notes vs. Ducks

• Zach Werenski has 13 points in 15 games against Anaheim
• Boone Jenner has 9 points in his last 16 games against the Ducks.
• Sean Monahan has 29 points in 36 games vs. Anaheim.

Injuries 

• Erik Gudbranson - Upper Body - Missed 26 Games - IR - No timeline for a return
• Mathieu Olivier - Upper Body - Missed 11 Games - IR- No timeline for a return - He is skating

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 67

How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on FANDUEL SPORTS NETWORK. Bob Wischusen will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 THE FAN, with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play. 

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With only three games left before the Christmas break, the Montreal Canadiens will host the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre on Saturday night before heading to Pennsylvania for the second part of the back-to-back on Sunday.

The big story for the weekend, aside from the fact that Kent Hughes brought back Phillip Danault, will be Sidney Crosby’s chase for the Penguins' all-time scoring lead. As things stand, the Penguins’ captain sits on point behind Mario Lemieux with 1,722 points; the “kid” needed 1,385 games to get there, while Lemieux recorded 1,723 points in just 915 games. In other words, in Saturday night’s tilt in Montreal, Crosby could tie the Montreal native Lemieux’s point total or even set a new record.

Pittsburgh was shut out in its last game against the Ottawa Senators, but Crosby has an excellent record against the Canadiens with 70 points in 53 career games. Tying or breaking Lemieux’s record in the province where Crosby played his junior hockey would be a great scenario.

Canadiens: Hughes Brings Danault Back
This Canadiens Move Is Looking Very Good Right Now
Canadiens: Montembeault Loses First Game With the Rocket

The Penguins have been struggling of late; they are 2-4-4 in their last 10 games and are currently 12th in the Eastern Conference. They are still without Evgeni Malkin, who’s on injured reserve, and Kris Letang is having an awful season, becoming the target of the Pens’ fans' ire with only 16 points in 33 games with two more years left on his contract and a full no-movement clause.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens are 5-4-1 and still struggling with consistency. Martin St-Louis has yet to confirm who the starter will be for the tilt, but both goalies should see a game, given that the Habs are playing two games in two days. Jakub Dobes has never taken on the Pens, but he had a good game on Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Czech netminder has a 12-5-2 record with a 2.91 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage this season. As for Jacob Fowler, he made his NHL debut a little over a week ago against the Pens, and he signed a 4-2 win, saving 36 of the 38 shots he faced for a .947 SV.

As for the Penguins, they recently traded Tristan Jarry to the Edmonton Oilers for Stuart Skinner. The latter has played only one game since the trade, and he allowed five goals on 22 shots against his former team. However, he has a 4-1-0 record against the Canadiens with a 2.75 GAA and a .898 save percentage. He’s 11-9-4 on the season with a 2.93 GAA and a .887 SV. As for Arturs Silovs, he has never taken on the Habs in his young career, and he has 4-5-6 record with a 3.26 GAA and a .890 SV on the season.

Up front, Brendan Gallagher is the Canadiens’ most productive player against the Pens with 16 points in 32 games, followed by Nick Suzuki, who has 12 points in 16 games and Mike Matheson with 10 points in 20 games. The defenseman missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, but he did skate on Friday while the team was off.

The Canadiens have acquired forward Phillip Danault from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick.

News release ↓ #GoHabsGohttps://t.co/u7S9L9pJnb

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 20, 2025

At the other end of the ice, Crosby is unsurprisingly the Pens most productive player against the Habs with 70 points in 53 games, as mentioned above. Erik Karlsson comes in second place with 43 points in 53 games, followed by Letang with 40 points in 48 games.

Pittsburgh has won six of the last 10 duels between the two sides, including a whooping 9-2 triumph the last time they met in Montreal. Still, the Habs have won the sole meeting this season, and the Penguins have lost their last seven games, not all in regulation, but still, they haven’t pocketed two points since December 4.

The referees will be Peter MacDougall and Frederic L’Ecuyer, with Devin Berg and Andrew Smith acting as linesmen.

The Canadiens will be celebrating Christmas at the Bell Centre tonight. The first 7,500 fans through the doors will receive a Christmas ornament exclusively designed for the event, and there will be a tailgate at La Cour Rio Tinto, where you can grab a free hot chocolate from the Tim Hortons food truck. If you’re watching the game at home, it’s scheduled for 7:00 PM, and you can catch it on TVAS, CITY, SNE, and SN-PIT.

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The Chicago Blackhawks are set to play an afternoon matinee against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Losers of four straight, they have fallen out of favor in the Western Conference. At 13-15-6, they sit five points behind the playoff line. 

As for Ottawa, winners of two straight, they are now 16-13-4. It's been an up-and-down season for them, as they are four points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The difference between the two conferences is evident in this matchup. 

Scouting Ottawa

The Ottawa Senators have the expectation of being a playoff team in 2025-26. They were a playoff team last year and gave the Toronto Maple Leafs all they could handle in the first round. Now, they'd like to take another step, but there is some work to do. 

Their captain, Brady Tkachuk, was injured for some time during this season, but he's back and starting to light it up. Around him is a ton of talent at every position. 

Tkachuk - Stutzle - Zetterlund

Perron - Cozens - Batherson

Amadio - Greig - Giroux

MacDermid - Halliday - Cousins

Sanderson - Zub

Kleven - Spence

Matinpalo - Jensen

Ullmark

Merilainen

Linus Ullmark started in goal for Ottawa in their last game, which means that Leevi Merilainen could get the nod in this one, but Ullmark is no stranger to making two starts in a row.

The trick for the Senators is that they play again on Sunday, so each of them is going to get a start. Ullmark is more likely to go against the team he won the Vezina Trophy with in the Boston Bruins, leaving Merilainen for the Chicago game one day prior. 

Outside of Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle is the catalyst for all offense on this team. That top line is as good as it gets in the NHL. Ottawa needs some of their depth to start showing out a little more. 

On defense, Jake Sanderson is an elite player. When he is on the ice, you can expect the Blackhawks to pay extra close attention to him. 

Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago

The Chicago Blackhawks are trying to change up all sorts of things in order to get back on track. That includes their line combinations. 

Burakovsky - Nazar - Bertuzzi

Mikheyev - Dickinson - Moore

Donato - Greene - Teravainen

Lafferty - Dach - Lardis

Vlasic - Crevier

Grzelcyk - Levshunov

Kaiser - Murphy

This is entirely different from the lineup that they used against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. After practice on Friday, head coach Jeff Blashill wouldn't confirm that these lines would stick for the game. Warmups will be very telling in this regard. 

Ethan Del Mastro and Dominic Toninato were the extras in practice, but their status for this game against Ottawa is still unknown based on Blashill's lineup comments.

Following this game, the Blackhawks don't play until Tuesday night, so it is hard to predict what the goaltending situation will be. Arvid Soderblom has been struggling a bit lately, but this is a typical situation he encounters. If Blashill wants to change it up and use Knight with two days of rest and the holiday break upon them, that wouldn't be much of a surprise either. 

How To Watch

The game can be heard locally on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area. To view this game, it can be found locally on CHSN. It can be streamed nationally on ESPN+. The puck will drop shortly after 2:00 PM CT. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

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It’s been an awful start to the season for Phillip Danault. Earlier this week, Research Ground’s Marco D’Amico reported that the centerman had asked for a trade, something his agent Allan Walsh did not appreciate. Still, a few days later, right before the trade freeze, the Montreal Canadiens announced that they had acquired the disgruntled Los Angeles Kings’ centerman.

While word around the league was that the Kings were aiming to get a roster player in return, they ultimately agreed to send Danault back to Montreal for a second-round pick, not the Habs’ own pick but the Columbus Blue Jackets’, the one they acquired when they agreed to take on Patrik Laine’s full $8.7 million cap hit for two seasons.

Canadiens: Montembeault Loses First Game With the Rocket
Canadiens: Hutson Makes History And Makes It Look Easy
Canadiens & 2 More Teams Linked To Kings' Phillip Danault

Given the fact that the Jackets are currently 25th in the league with 34 points, it could be a reasonably high pick, but the Canadiens could afford it. They still have eight picks for the upcoming draft, including one in the first three rounds and two in the fourth round (thanks to the Jonathan Kovacevic trade).

In an ideal world, the Canadiens would have liked to acquire a second-line center this summer, but none were available on the market, and Danault is not one of them, not anymore. What he can still do, however, is win a lot of draws and make the Canadiens’ penalty kill much better. While everyone was on board with moving on from Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak, their departure significantly hurt the PK. Martin St-Louis hoped that Alex Newhook would pick up the slack, but that worked for 17 games before he fractured his ankle. He then had surgery that ruled him out for four months, which means until mid-March.

Since then, St-Louis has made do with Jake Evans, Josh Anderson, Oliver Kapanen and Joe Veleno. At times, Nick Suzuki has also pitched in, but overusing him is less than ideal. Danault has a 52.9% faceoff percentage and can definitely help on the penalty kill, but he cannot roll into town hoping to play as significant a role as he once did for the Canadiens.

In his last season with the Canadiens, he was forming the top line with Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Tatar. The latter is long gone, while the former currently skates on the fourth line, and in an ideal world, that’s where Danault needs to land. Looking at the big picture, a player like Kapanen, who has established good chemistry with Ivan Demidov and is working on it with Juraj Slafkovsky, needs to continue gaining valuable experience. Danault is 32 and is only under contract until the end of next season; he’s not going to be there long-term.

While the Canadiens haven’t announced it yet, the AHL transactions page shows that Jared Davidson was loaned back to the Laval Rocket yesterday, a move necessary to comply with the 23-man roster limit. It will be interesting to see who makes way for Danault in the lineup; Veleno and Owen Beck are the two likeliest candidates. Beck is pointless in seven games this season, while Veleno has three points in 29 games. Still, the veteran saw over 14 minutes of ice-time in the last match, while Beck only saw 11:24 of action. The 21-year-old could be best served by playing more minutes down in Laval than being on the Canadiens’ fourth line right now.

The Habs have yet to confirm when Danault will join the team, we’ll probably know more on Saturday morning when the Canadiens hold their morning skate at the Bell Centre at 10:30. It’s worth noting that the centerman hasn’t played since December, 10 because of a virus (that’s the official reason, but it could have been linked to the fact that a trade was in the works as well).

With the Kings not retaining any salary, it will be interesting to see how the Canadiens will navigate the numbers when their injured players come back, but that's a topic for another day. 

He's baaaaaacccckkkkk! #Habs with a late night trade before the #NHL holiday roster freeze kicks in acquire Phillip Danault from the #GoKingsGo in exchange for a 2nd round pick in the 2026 Draft pic.twitter.com/yQehAE7TVo

— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) December 20, 2025

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The vibes inside Amerant Bank Arena were immaculate at the end of Friday’s game between the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.

For the first time in franchise history, Florida erased a three-goal deficit with less than ten minutes to go, earning a resounding 4-3 shootout victory over the Hurricanes.

The victory was the fourth in a row for the Cats and the seventh over their past eight games.

It also moved Florida, for now, into second place in the Atlantic Division, one point back of first-place Detroit.

There was a lot to like about Friday’s win, so let’s get to the takeaways:

LUNDELL SAVES THE DAY

Florida’s epic comeback was nearly thwarted by Andrei Svechnikov in the final moments.

With Sergei Bobrovsky on the bench for an extra attacker, Svechnikov picked up the puck and had only Anton Lundell standing between him and a game-sealing empty-net goal.

As Svechnikov approached Florida’s blue line he attempted to stickhandle himself to a position where he could put the puck on net. That’s when Lundell stepped up and disrupted the play, taking the puck off Svechnikov’s stick and moving it back toward Carolina’s end of the ice.

Moments later, Florida scored the game-tying goal with 41.1 seconds on the clock.

“That was pretty good,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said with a smile.

“He saved the game,” added Panthers forward Brad Marchand. “Svechnikov is a great player that can easily make a move on a D-man and get a shot on net with that much space, so yeah, he completely saved the game. He made a great play, and then we go down score right after. A great job by him.”

BELIEF NEVER WAVERED

For those who have been paying attention over the past several years, the Comeback Cats are nothing new.

This time, however, there was a little more gravity to the situation.

The scoreboard did not scream ‘you can do it’ with Florida down 3-0 and the clock ticking past the 10-minute mark.

But between the veterans on the bench helping maintain the team’s composure and the skilled players who never say die no matter what the numbers on the jumbotron says, it was quite impressive to see the Panthers pull off such a startling comeback, and against perhaps the stingiest team in the NHL.

“You know what? It's easy to believe, but at the same time, you also know how hard it is,” said Maurice. “There's nothing easy about winning that game tonight. We will have plays that we didn't like and parts of the game that we didn't like, but we also had a bunch of things just didn't go for us. We had a bunch of chances that didn't go, and that's usually what the losing coach says, we had our chances, but I was good with our game. Like where we are in the year, and where we are trying to build our team this year and the way we play, when you look up (and the score is) 3-0, and you don't think that's quite the way the game was played. So we needed one of these where a couple things went our way in the end.”

MARCHAND THE CHEAT CODE

It’s pretty unbelievable what Marchand has been doing this season for the Panthers.

The 37-year-old is looking 10 years younger, playing some elite hockey on the ice while being an incredibly positive emotional leader off the ice.

Marchand scored his 20th goal of the season during the third period on Friday to spark Florida’s comeback.

He’s now racked up four goals and eight points over his past four games and his line with Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe has been incredibly effective on both ends of the ice.

“Marchy, as he always does…we're down three, he’s screaming, ‘We can do this’ and he scores the first goal,” Maurice said. “That was really the big one that kind of gave us some life. It almost takes some pressure off you at that point. You can throw it at them, pull the goalie, and so those guys got it done.”

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Photo caption: Dec 19, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; The Florida Panthers celebrate their win against the Carolina Hurricanes following the shootout at Amerant Bank Arena. (Rhona Wise-Imagn Images)

The Los Angeles Kings have traded center Phillip Danault just before the NHL's roster freeze that kicks in at 12 a.m. ET for the Christmas break.

Los Angeles received a 2026 second-round pick from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Danault. The second-round pick is owned by the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are at the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference.

With this move, Kings' GM Ken Holland removes Danault's $5.5-million cap hit. The player has one more year left on his contract after this season, fulfilling his six-year ticket. Los Angeles now has $9.2 million in salary cap space in the aftermath of this deal.

Also, the Kings now own two draft picks in the second round of the 2026 draft.

This trade follows several reports, including from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, about Danault and the Kings being willing to part ways.

Danault is returning to his home province of Quebec in his reunion with the Habs. The 32-year-old played parts of six seasons with Montreal. 

Across those years, he played 360 games for the club, scoring 54 goals and 194 points. He was also a part of the Canadiens team that advanced to the Stanley Cup final in 2020-21.

With the Kings this season, Danault has had a very slow start. In 30 appearances, he's scored zero goals and put up five assists while averaging 16:19 of ice time per game, spending most of his time on the third line. Furthermore, he's missed the last four games due to illness.

Breaching the Surface: Alex Turcotte and the Phillip Danault DilemmaTAMPA BAY, FL – In a place that has been a house of horrors for the Los Angeles Kings, the team was able to squeeze out a 2-1 win in sixty minutes of play, no more, no less, at Amalie Arena. For anyone following closely, that was the 23rd game this season for the Kings in which the game was decided by just one goal. Scaling down, it was also the fourth consecutive game the Kings were without defensive linchpin Phillip Danault, who has been battling the flu. In those four games, the Kings have been outscored at even strength 8-4.

The shutdown, two-way center is signing off on his Kings tenure after five seasons and 349 games. In that span, Danault scored 70 goals and 200 points.

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