Given how lacklustre the backend of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been in recent years, it’s easy to look at any free agent defenceman and consider them an upgrade.
Here’s the thing: Don’t.
The Los Angeles Kings made one of their primary moves to transition into rebuild mode this afternoon by finally opting to buyout the contract of Dion Phaneuf. Phaneuf had two years remaining on the seven-year, $49 million deal he signed as a Toronto Maple Leaf in 2013, at an average annual value of $7 million.
Dion Phaneuf has been bought out by the Kings.
— John Shannon (@JShannonhl) June 15, 2019
This now makes Phaneuf a free agent. On the open market, the veteran will likely command only a fraction of what he made on his previous deal, perhaps even choosing to join a contender on a close-to-league-minimum waiver. And, wouldn’t you know, the Leafs happen to be a contender. Should they take a stab at a decidedly cheap Phaneuf?
No. Absolutely not. For so many reasons.
Age
It may be hard to believe, but Phaneuf is 34-years-old at the moment. He’s definitively reached the backend portion of his career, with this upcoming season set to serve as his 15th in the NHL. There are obviously some rare cases of those who tap into the fountain of youth, but few defencemen tend to improve their play the deeper they dive into their 30’s, and Phaneuf’s performance has been declining fast ever since he signed his fateful extension.
If advanced age wasn’t enough, Phaneuf is also coming off a year in which an upper-body injury forced him into a stint on the IR. There are some hard miles on Phaneuf’s body, the kind most teams tend to shy away from when committing to a veteran defenceman.
Position
The Maple Leafs desperately need a right-handed defenceman, particularly in light of Nikita Zaitsev‘s imminent departure. The right side of their blueline has perhaps served as this team’s most glaring weak spot ever since the 2012-13 lockout, and in order to vault themselves into the upper echelon on contention, this needs to be addressed.
It would be one thing to take a stab at a Phaneuf reunion if he filled that need. Alas, he doesn’t. As a left-shot, Phaneuf fills what is Toronto’s most plentiful positional group at the moment and further contribute to a logjam that will be interesting to track during training camp.
Even with Travis Dermott set to miss the first month of the season, the Maple Leafs have a plethora of established veterans; Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin, new arrivals; Teemu Kivihalme, lineup hopefuls; Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman, close-to-ready prospects; Rasmus Sandin, and potentially returning faces; Jake Gardiner and Ron Hainsey all of whom would likely fall ahead of Phaneuf on the depth chart.
Why spent money to add him to the mix when more effective options are available internally?
Effectiveness
There is a reason that the Los Angeles Kings chose to eat a significant financial penalty to rid themselves of Dion Phaneuf. His play has declined at a rapid rate in recent years, with Phaneuf’s CF/60 at 5v5 never breaking above the 50% barrier at any point since leaving the Toronto despite his usage becoming more and more sheltered.
This past season, Phaneuf mustered only a 49.1% CF/60 at 5v5 while logging a paltry 15:00 per night and beginning 54.8% of his shifts in the offensive zone, per HockeyReference. Deployment doesn’t get much easier than that, frankly, and even in decidedly easy minutes, Phaneuf failed to both drive play and produce offence entirely. Even in the worst of Phaneuf’s seasons as a Maple Leaf, if you can remember, the maligned rearguard could still be counted on for roughly 30 points.
Phaneuf finished with 6 this year in 67 games, rendering him a healthy scratch towards the end of the season.
This is simply not an NHL calibre player anymore. Phaneuf has put together a perfectly fine career filled with its fair share of towering highs upon which he can look back fondly. But those glory days are over. And even at a heavily discounted rate, dipping a toe back into the past should be far off the list of moves Kyle Dubas is set to make.
Improvements are out there. Phaneuf isn’t one of them.
Thanks for reading!