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).

Tweet from @CanadiensMTL: Danault la met au fond du philet. Danault about you, but we are phil-ling this goal.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/F9flvt2jl4

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.

Tweet from @CanadiensMTL: Une passe sur la palette, c'est bien. Mais deux, c'est mieux. One pass on the tape is good. But two is better.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/JgusVxJ5wI

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.

Tweet from @CanadiensMTL: Phil n���allait quand m��me pas d��cevoir Tuna.Tuna found Danault alone in front, and Phil didn't disappoint.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/2ALJERvbcg

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.

Tweet from @CanadiensMTL: ��a fait maintenant 10 buts pour Danault, cette saison!Make that 10 goals this season for Danault!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/7SxAHrBBG3

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.