Toronto Maple Leafs: Remembering Dion Phaneuf

Dion Phaneuf’s tenure as the 21st captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs was an unmitigated failure.

Did we ever believe it would end any other way? Even at the time, one had to wonder whether Phaneuf knew what exactly he was getting himself into.

The job of captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs is widely regarded as one of the hardest in all of hockey. Saying that, it should have been clear that poor Dion was doomed from the moment the first stitch melded his white “C” onto the iconic blue sweater.

Losing has just numbed us too much to notice.

No, Phaneuf never did blossom into the blueline stalwart his contract told us he would. Then again, can we fully blame him for that? I don’t think we can.

So, indulge me, as I delve into one of this team’s most peculiar stars from one of it’s most peculiar eras.

The Arrival

In the early afternoon of January 31st, 2010, the Leafs acquired Phaneuf from the Calgary Flames in monumental seven-player trade.

Out the door was Toronto boy Matt Stajan, along with Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers and Ian White. Coming back the other way was Phaneuf, defence prospect Keith Aulie, and Frederik Sjostrom.

In a shocking turn of events, Stajan has now become the trade’s lone remaining piece, with every other player having either moved on, retired, or both.

It’s worth acknowledging that, at the time of the deal, the Leafs were trudging through one of the most thoroughly depressing years in franchise history.

Kicking off the year an embarrassing 0-7-1 had sealed their fate from the beginning, and to the shock of the fans, it only went downhill from there. In fact, the night prior to Phaneuf’s arrival, Toronto dropped a 5-3 home contest with the Vancouver Canucks, their fifth consecutive defeat.

Needless to say, the bar on this team was set at an all-time low.

And then came Phaneuf, the star.

At the time, it felt as if he was almost too good for that miserable team. This was a guy who had been nominated for the Calder Trophy alongside Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. Someone who, one year prior, was nominated for a Norris Trophy.

What was he doing here?

It’s practically inconceivable now, but fans were enamoured with Phaneuf upon his arrival. Although, I’m pretty sure his Leafs debut certainly helped.

Getting someone of his stature signified a culture change.

Phaneuf injected the moribund team with their first semblance of swagger. He barked at underperforming players on the bench. And, most notably, he even hijacked the team DJ duties, plugging his iPod (yes, people used iPods back then) into the dressing room speakers as soon as he stepped foot in there.

Fittingly, for a team destined for failure, he truly was their captain.

Hindsight

Which is precisely why he was doomed from the start.

The following summer, Phaneuf was handed the Leafs captaincy for essentially just doing his job. Yes, the standard for leadership on that haunted carnival ride of a team was so non-existent, that you would be deemed the exalted chosen one for simply endowing the office with anything other than total apathy.

Only, that’s not how captain selections should work.

Phaneuf earned his distinction of “captain material” from playing roughly 20 games of semi-invested hockey on a bottom feeding team. Should that really qualify you to become the face of the NHL’s marquee franchise?

The current Leafs squad is currently bordering on two calendar years without an appointed captain. Why? Because, for now, they don’t need one.

This is a young team blessed with a plethora of potential leadership options.

So, rather than forcing one into an increased role prematurely, they’ll willingly wait for a worthy candidate to organically present himself.

Phaneuf’s arrival was as if someone dying from dehydration was finally able to sip from a dirty puddle. To someone on death’s door, it would taste like liquid gold. To everyone else, it’s still just a dirty puddle.

Surrounding Parts

While Phaneuf’s captaincy will never be uttered in the same sentence as Darryl Sittler‘s, it should not be thought of as the never-ending trainwreck we remember it to be.

In order to achieve success, one must be surrounded by some modicum of support. Unfortunately, that was a luxury Phaneuf was never afforded.

He instead inherited a team that was actively investing their future success into a young core of Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson. Just drink that in for a moment.

Inevitably, the losses piled up. But, night after night, there was Phaneuf, stationed in front of his stall, ready to face whatever the media threw at him.

Shouldering the blame for your team’s collective failure, especially when said blame is coming from one of hockey’s most vicious media markets, is quite admirable. And that is exactly what Phaneuf did, no matter the result.

We need to remember Phaneuf for what he was; a second pairing defenceman miscast with first pairing minutes.

Through no fault of his own, coach after coach thrust upon him the bulk of powerplay and penalty killing responsibilities, while in turn matching him up with their opponents top lines on a nightly basis.

When faced with reality, did he really perform any worse than expected? Or did we simply believe him to be something he just wasn’t?

The Trade

If nothing else, we should remember Phaneuf for what Toronto ended up selling him for.

Thanks to Eugene Melnyk‘s shameless penny pinching, the Leafs were afforded the opportunity to offload their captain to Ottawa. By agreeing to take on a mix of dead money and assets, thus providing the Senators and their owner with some short-term financial relief, they were free from Phaneuf’s onerous contract.

In the process, the Leafs freed up four contract spots, while also assuming the cap hits of Colin Greening, Milan Michalek, Jared Cowan, prospect Tobias Lindberg, along with a second-round pick.

This deal just gets sweeter by the day.

As the Sens are forced into paying a past-his-prime Phaneuf $7 million per year to be the slowest player on the ice, the Leafs have shed all the dead money they took on from the deal, and instead parlayed it into valuable assets.

Greening remains a Marlie, endowing their young roster with a veteran presence and invaluable leadership. Michalek’s $4 million cap hit is now stricken from the books, with Cowan’s $750,000 buyout penalty following suit in the summer.

Not to mention, the Leafs ended up magically turning Lindberg into gold.

In dealing the underwhelming and gridlocked prospect, they somehow received their backup goalie of the future in return. Through 18 games as a Marlie this year, Calvin Pickard has posted a .930% save percentage, while showing every indication of his NHL ability.

Not a bad return for a scapegoat.

Conclusion

It would be easy to equate Phaneuf’s tenure as captain with nothing but heartbreak.

Yes, he was there for the “18 Wheeler Season”. He was there for the Carlyle years too. And, most painful of all, he was there for game 7.

What we can’t forget, however, is Phaneuf’s resilience. In the face of such failure, such pain and such downright misery, Phaneuf kept pushing. Franky, most Leafs from that bygone era can’t say that same.

So, that’s exactly how we should remember him.

Next: The Week Ahead

Not as the maligned captain of a perennial lottery team. But, as the best whipping boy this historic franchise has seen in decades.