Blue And White Beat: Phaneuf as a Leaf – One Year Later
Exactly one year ago today, a hastily-assembled group of reporters assembled on a Sunday morning in the media room of Air Canada Centre to hear Leafs general manager Brian Burke rhyme off the particulars of a seven-player trade.
The centrepiece of the transaction was one-time Calder Trophy and Norris Trophy finalist Dion Phaneuf, who Toronto obtained from the Calgary Flames. Forward Fredrik Sjostrom and defenceman Keith Aulie were also headed east, while moving to Calgary were Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Ian White and Jamal Mayers.
Both teams have endured their share of misery in the twelve months that have followed. The Flames missed the playoffs last year despite a 90-point season, then replaced their general manager last month after a disappointing first half.
The Leafs plummeted to 29th overall, suffered the indignity of Boston drafting Tyler Seguin with the first-round draft pick Toronto once held, then made dubious headlines by playing so poorly that their home fans pelted them with breakfast-style projectiles (yes, we’re tired of mentioning them by name).
There is little short-term optimism for either franchise.
Yet it’s hard to argue against the Leafs emergence as the winners of the deal.
Note to critics: there is no suggestion that the Leafs captain is close to ever regaining the form that he exhibited in his first three seasons in the league (wow, did this guy really get voted in as a Western All-Star just 3 years ago?) He’s often immobile and flat-footed: enter into evidence – Wayne Simmonds’ goal in Los Angeles. He gets confused on the opposing rush, ignoring the lessons instilled at pee-wee level that decry crossing over to the other side of the ice when the forwards cross over. He has 62 defencemen ahead of him in power-play scoring, having produced 0 goals and 4 assists on Leafs power-plays, despite earning 3:29 of ice time per game with the man advantage.
But that’s not the whole story.
Phaneuf is still an intimidating presence, capable of inspiring his team by bruising the opposition. Just ask Tampa forward Dana Tyrell, who was sent flying into Toronto’s bench just five seconds into both teams’ final game before the All-Star break. When Phaneuf is “ornery”, as Leafs coach Ron Wilson says “he’s hard to play against.” The bench boss’ comments came after Phaneuf solidified his territory on the Leafs blueline in the club’s most recent win, a 5-2 victory over Anaheim eleven days ago which was arguably his best game played in a Toronto uniform.
An examination of Toronto’s and Calgary’s records over the past 365 days confirms the cliché that the team that gets the best player wins the trade.
On January 31, 2010, Toronto was 17-28-11, translating to a winning percentage of .402.
Since then, the team has gone 32-35-8 (.480). What’s even more compelling is that the Leafs posted a record of just 5-8-3 in the sixteen games that Phaneuf missed earlier this year after suffering a leg injury in a game against Ottawa. So that puts Toronto 27-27-5, or .500, in games in which Phaneuf has played.
Conversely, the Flames were 27-20-8 (.564) on the day that then-Flames GM Darryl Sutter consummated the trade with Burke. They have gone 37-33-8 (.526) since then. By absolute terms, they still have an edge on the Leafs. But by relative terms, it’s the team that plays an Air Canada Centre that is moving in the favourable direction.
Lest we forget the other six players involved in the deal, while Sjostrom has yet to play above third or fourth-line status in Toronto, Aulie showed his potential during his dozen-game stint with the NHL club, and was also the Marlies’ lone representative at the AHL All-Star game.
Meanwhile under the concave roof of the Saddledome, Stajan and Hagman have compiled 23 points each for Calgary, scoring 12 goals between them. The numbers are serviceable, but mediocre. The production may improve if the Flames continue the momentum of their streak of points in 9 of their past ten games. However it’s worth noting that the ex-Leafs have just 5 points (Stajan) and 6 points (Hagman) over that stretch – indicating that they are by no means the strongest contributors to the cause.
White and Mayers are no longer in the Flames organization.
Phaneuf is still only 25. He may be an All-Star again one day and save Phil Kessel some embarrassment (that is, if they change the All-Star draft rules to allow a defenceman to be picked last).
Or, his game may be dogged with gaping defensive holes for much of the rest of his career.
In either case, the Leafs still did better than Calgary.
Rob Del Mundo is the author of Blue And White Beat, and is a regular columnist at TMLfans.ca
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In a cap system, trying to pick a winner out of a trade like that without any regard for the salary cap implications leaves an obvious and gaping hole in the logic. Toronto’s record may have improved since the Phaneuf trade, but at what cost? His salary is an albatross for the kind of offensive numbers he’s putting up, and the occasional monster hit is not worth the price being paid for him to make them.