On This Day In Toronto Maple Leafs History: January 31st
On January 31st, 2010 the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke made two blockbuster trades on the same day.
The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired defenseman Dion Phaneuf from the Flames and goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere from the Ducks.
After making a trade to acquire 21-year-old star Phil Kessel only a few months before, Burke was setting the foundation for his rebuilding team’s core.
Burke during his tenure with the Leafs attempted to take them to the promise land through his own brand of tough hockey.
As well, he used an aggressive rebuild/retool style. Although some players were traded straight up for picks and prospects, many were traded for players to make the team better right away. This style of rebuild was even more pronounced after he traded two firsts and a second for the aforementioned Kessel.
That trade forced the team to no longer set their sights solely on building a team to win in the future and firmly into a “win-now” mode.
Of course over a decade later we have the benefit of hindsight, but this didn't work, and a lot of people were critical at the time.
On This Day In Toronto Maple Leafs History: January 31st
The Toronto Maple Leafs sent forwards Jamal Mayers, Matt Stajan, and Niklas Hagman accompanied by defenseman Ian White to the Calgary Flames for forward Frederik Sjostrom, defensemen Dion Phaneuf, and Keith Aulie.
At the time, the Leafs were acquiring a 24-year-old star in Phaneuf. He had been named a first-team all-star only a few years prior as well as already attending two all-star games. Although not an officially recognized award, he had also been EA Sports’ NHL 09 cover athlete.
Another notable player in the deal was Keith Aulie. He was the Flames’ fourth round pick in the 2007 NHL draft but was seen as a solid prospect playing in his first professional hockey season in the American Hockey League (AHL). It looked like the Leafs had acquired two key pieces for the future of their blueline.
Phaneuf was acquired to be the Leafs foundational piece on their backend, combining his 6-foot-4 frame with his elite offensive game.
Unfortunately, in the following seasons he would see a fairly steep decline in his play. Many attribute this to going from playing in a much more insulated role in Calgary versus his role in Toronto where he was “the guy”. Whatever the reason, it was shown in the eye-test, analytics, and regular boxscore statistics.
Despite this, Phaneuf would be named the 18th captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs that following summer. He would hold this title until he was traded in 2016. His tenure is marred by failure both his own but also as a franchise. Rightly or wrongly, he would face a lot of criticism in Toronto even though he was surrounded by a flawed team.
The other key piece in the trade, Keith Aulie would also never pan out to meet the hype he was given. He would play a total of 57 NHL games with the Leafs before being dealt in 2012 for former first rounder, prospect Carter Ashton. Although not very relevant, he would also not pan out. Aulie retired in 2021 after playing multiple years in the DEL. Ashton is currently playing for Leksands IF of the SHL.
Giguere Trade
The other trade that day was to acquire veteran goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere from the Anaheim Ducks. The Leafs sent Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala the other way.
This trade was less about the future and more about dumping two overpriced assets in Blake and Toskala, as well as stabilizing the Leafs crease. Toskala at the time of his trade had played in 26 games for the Leafs with a .874 SV%.
The team needed a more capable goaltender to mentor and tandem with young goaltender Jonas Gustavsson that the team acquired the previous summer. “Giggy” did just that in short order, recording back-to-back shutouts in his first two games as a Leaf, setting a franchise record.
Giguere would play the following season in Toronto, before having the starter’s job snapped up by rookie James Reimer who broke onto the scene. Although many would consider the Phaneuf trade to be a failure, the Giguere trade was definitely not. He played 48 games donning the Blue and White, sporting a 17-18-6 record and a .906 SV%.
As someone who was a child at the time of these trades, I can remember the excitement I felt seeing these trades break. It felt like the Leafs were finally turning a new leaf (no pun intended) and building for the future.
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I also remember pretending to be Giguere when I played road hockey with my friends. This was a much simpler time in my hockey fandom and failure or not, I cherish these childhood memories and that’s what sports is truly all about.