If the Kings are looking for salary cap relief this summer, unfortunately, they may need to trade Phillip Danault.
The reality is that the Los Angeles Kings are up against the salary cap ceiling. They have the bulk of their core players locked up, with a few needing new contracts.
The Kings are working on getting Quintin Byfield locked up long-term, which will only make their cap situation even more challenging. Unfortunately, in today's salary cap world, there are often cap casualties, and the Kings' could be Phillip Danault.
Danault has three more seasons left on his contract with an AAV of $5.5 million per season. This is a fairly large chunk of money that may need to be moved and replaced with a cheaper third-line center option.
One team that could be interested in Danault would be Utah. The word is that they are going to be willing to spend money and trade some of their draft capital to improve their roster. This could be a fit for both teams; the only real roadblock would be his modified no-move clause.
Ideally, the Kings would allocate some of the cap space that they make by trading Danault toward goaltending. It doesn't need to be the best goalie in the league, but this team is going to need solid goaltending if they want to go far in the playoffs.
Nevertheless, it may be unlikely that Danault will be traded this summer. However, this is something that the Kings can keep in their back pocket until they need the cap room.