Phaneuf set adrift amid new era
MAPLE LEAFS: Trade with Senators all about building hope, and cap space, for future
The end for Dion Phaneuf as a Maple Leaf was not unlike the beginning. It came without notice, rumour or supposition.
And it is and was all about the future and possibilities, all about what could be and what might be. And it is now about ridding the Leafs of bad contracts and bad memories, players signed on and believed in by previous administrations.
Brian Burke acquired Phaneuf and, in essence, moved out many remnants of the remaining contracts left behind by John Ferguson. And the beat goes on.
Lou Lamoriello sent Phaneuf packing to Ottawa on Tuesday, and with the deal goes the onerous contract Dave Nonis signed him to just before the Winter Classic at The Big House. From the day he signed that deal, after Phaneuf was prematurely and improperly made captain, he was judged more on salary than performance and neither seemed right. No matter what he did, he couldn’t match the contract, couldn’t be what others wanted him to be.
Now he’s traded away for some hope and a lot of salary cap flexibility, two of hockey’s most powerful intangibles. The Leafs bought rather low on Phaneuf back in 2010, sending a lot of junk to Calgary to get him. Six years later, they sell and while it’s not exactly a garage sale price, it’s a slight victory — not a home run — by salary subtraction.
Bringing Phaneuf to Toronto was a Burke building block, his way in his words of putting teams together from the back end out. That was the sell. Sending him packing now is building from the dollar signs out, opening roster spots and making salary manoeuvring possible. The win in all this will depend on what Lamoriello does with the openings.
The best of all possibilities: Signing Steven Stamkos as a free agent and drafting Auston Matthews with the first pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.
That combination would accelerate the Leafs rebuild exponentially and, in Lamoriello’s own words, change the plan. That would give the Leafs two centres to build around for more than a decade. That would be crazy, really, and highly unusual for the historically unlucky Leafs.
Moving Phaneuf puts them in a better money position regarding free agency, even if it doesn’t add up to Stamkos. Trading him removes a 22-minute a night, reasonably dependable major league defenceman from their roster. It thins an already thin Leaf defence corps: The unstated goal over the next 30 games is to bottom out and get the best shot at selecting Matthews.
Finishing last would give them a 20 per cent chance at the first pick and, if not that, a definite shot at large Finnish wingers Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi. The Leafs have yet to introduce William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Connor Brown and Dmytro Timashov — their four best prospects up front — to their roster. And they believe they have four defencemen in their system who can play in the top four on NHL teams in the future — not identifying them, but Stuart Percy, the former first round pick, isn’t thought to be among those four.
They have two first-round picks this June, two third-round picks and would probably like to acquire another second-round pick or more to increase the 11 selections they’ll have in Buffalo. They have only seven picks for 2017 and that includes the choice from Ottawa. They are going to want to add to that number, too, which would likely mean the moving of newly acquired Milan Michalek a year from now at deadline time.
Lamoriello chose to bypass the allstar game in Nashville to come home to Toronto and get what he called “some work done.”
Part of that was the beginning of the Phaneuf talks, which were started by Ottawa, not the Leafs. Part of that was talking to other general managers around the NHL to see what Lamoriello might be able to attain for whomever he is choosing to make available.
Not that long ago, Phaneuf, Kessel and David Clarkson, the big three of Nonis’ bad contracts, seemed like untradeable anchors. Now all three are gone, little of Burke remains and for the first time in a long time, the Leafs have more money than they have players.
“I’m talking,” Lamoriello said Monday of the trade market. “There’s always constant talk. Where they go, you never know. You talk, you see what happens, but you don’t know where you’re going to end up. Look at this. In today’s game, you don’t expect to see nine players involved in a trade.
“I know (right now) internally we feel pretty good about what happened. That’s the good part.”
He traded his highest paid player and the best player he got back is injured. The Leafs like the prospect Tobias Lindberg (whom D.J. Smith coached in Oshawa), like the second round pick they acquired and will figure out over the next 30 games whether to buy out the slow-footed Jared Cowen or not.
Phaneuf’s run as captain of the Leafs was much like the team he played for. Occasionally promising, mostly disappointing, seemingly frustrating. He was captain longer than Doug Gilmour or Wendel Clark, for six seasons and seven playoff games, although it didn’t seem or feel that way.
Now the captain is gone in a deal for salary cap room. Hardly memorable or fashionable, which is not unlike Dion Phaneuf’s time in Toronto.