I thought when Burke traded a pile of junk to Calgary for Dion and Aulie it was the steal of a lifetime, funny, but Sutter won that trade easily, he rid himself of a 6.5 million defenceman that's getting worse year by year. I don't think he should have extended Stajan, but the real loss in that trade from Calgary's standpoint was Aulie, who I would have loved to see stay in Toronto, but once again Burke decided he was the defenceman that was expendable, that'll hurt going forward, and the captians made of teflon...........nothing sticks, he can do no harm, much like Wilson.
It certainly wasn't the smartest move from day one to make Dion captain and that's not hindsight at all. He had issues in Calgary, he was already going to get too much attention here, he makes a boatload of money he can never live up to, he's not good with the media...I mean I never understood it. Not to mention he's gotten progressively worse over the years. None of these articles would be coming out if he didn't have the 'C'. It's just so hard to justify this and now what, strip him of the C? you can't. Trade him? I don't see it, Burke doesn't swallow his pride, he sticks by his guys no matter what. Trading him would be like him acknowledging making a bad move.
It certainly wasn't the smartest move from day one to make Dion captain and that's not hindsight at all. He had issues in Calgary, he was already going to get too much attention here, he makes a boatload of money he can never live up to, he's not good with the media...I mean I never understood it. Not to mention he's gotten progressively worse over the years. None of these articles would be coming out if he didn't have the 'C'. It's just so hard to justify this and now what, strip him of the C? you can't. Trade him? I don't see it, Burke doesn't swallow his pride, he sticks by his guys no matter what. Trading him would be like him acknowledging making a bad move.
I couldn't agree more.
I think that the only way Burke moves Phaneuf is if he could somehow get his hands on Suter and/or Weber. That way he could talk about how he's upgraded the team, and you have to move really good assets to get pieces that are a better 'fit'. Never really has to say that Phaneuf was a bust for TO.
It is nearly impossible to move that contract though...however he doesn't have a NTC, and his cap is higher then his salary in 13-14.
The only reason the team was in a playoff spot in the first place was because of the all-star first halfs by Phaneuf, Kessel and Lupul.
Phaneuf is a darn good player. Not a Norris candidate but definitely a mid to low end # 1 Dman that compares to Burns or Buff.
Are Dmen aren't perfect but Phaneuf and the group really are the least of this teams concerns going forward.
Having awful goaltending and a horrible forward group are much bigger issues.
How can any team with the kind of goaltending we've gotten and 3 soft tweeners in Bozak, Connolly and CMac among the top 6 forwards in ice time per game expect to be a playoff team?
I like Dion Phaneuf, I like his overall game, especially how he's able to lay out that one big game-changing hit or that his shot (when on target) is virtually unstoppable. I just think he's been utilized incorrectly. Cut his minutes down to around a second/third pairing level, space minutes out evenly among the top four, and we should see the Dion Phaneuf of old.
I like Dion Phaneuf, I like his overall game, especially how he's able to lay out that one big game-changing hit or that his shot (when on target) is virtually unstoppable. I just think he's been utilized incorrectly. Cut his minutes down to around a second/third pairing level, space minutes out evenly among the top four, and we should see the Dion Phaneuf of old.
Cut his minutes down to 2nd/3rd pairing? That's a pretty poor use of a 6.5 million buck contract, don't you think?
Basically, he said that Phaneuf shouldn't be captain, and he shouldn't be a top-pairing defenseman either.
The only difference in this article is that he doesn't think it's Phaneuf's fault that he's been thrown in over his head. That's Burke's fault.
He pretty much nailed it right on...
No he's saying why should Phaneuf be asked to put up points, talk to the media all day, crash, bang and fight and then go out and shut down top players.
That is asking a lot. For Phaneuf at such a young age its incredibly taxing. Honestly the captain of the Maple Leafs should be a Gary Roberts, an older player who can deal with the media, go out and play his game. A lot of people have also said Phaneuf has matured a lot since in Toronto, changing the way he talks and how he plays to better be the wise team-captain and not the spark that he was in Calgary.
But yeah I agree with Mirtle, Phaneuf is being asked to do a lot. This isn't Chris Pronger or Scott Niedermayer here..
Cut his minutes down to 2nd/3rd pairing? That's a pretty poor use of a 6.5 million buck contract, don't you think?
We have a defenceman whos next to useless, playing 8-10 mins a night and making $4.5 million a year. Getting rid of Komisarek and putting Phaneuf on the 2nd pairing wouldn't hurt.
Let me know why you want Stajan, White and Hagman over Phaneuf.
The only reason I can think of is what would our salary cap situation look like if we had not made that trade. And who of those three would still be on the roster, meaning maybe a little more cap space.
Phanuef was an incredibly stupid choice for captain and anybody with half a brain could have recognized that from a mile away; but he was Burke's choice, so the franchise is stuck with him until we can get rid of both cement-heads.
All you had to do was watch his captaincy press conference to know that this guy is not leadership material.
Just listen to that neanderthal. I know public speaking can be difficult, but this is a person who is clearly reading that piece of paper for the first time. I might think a person who understands and appreciates the meaning and value of that press conference, of the Leafs' captaincy, might have attempted to read over, if not full on practice at least the opening of their statement! This is not the mark of an intelligent, thoughtful man. A man who cares about his word, his good name, and his career doesn't just show up to something this important and stare down at the podium reading from a piece of paper.
Now I am not saying that to be a good hockey player you need to be articulate or intelligent but they're a great asset to a good leader. There is a reason people admire (or maybe I should say 'admired') Brian Burke as a GM, and it isn't because of results. It is because of the confidence and gravitas with which he carries himself. His personality and demeanor in press conferences, in any public speaking role, is the reason why he is where he is today.
Bottom line is, when Phanuef is not on the absolute top of his game (which is usually) and "leading by example" he brings nothing to the table. Players like that are not suitable captains.
It is pretty strange to give the captaincy who can string a coherent sentence together when talking to the media after the game. I mean he is actually worse than Kessel. Its usually "umm....uhh...well...tonight we....................did.......................no t great............................................. ........and....................we................. ......................have to.......................try...................... .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ...............................................har der............next time"
I don't know why so many people seem to think Weber or whoever would be that much more successful than Phaneuf on this team.
At times he looks great and at times not. But the fact is, no matter what way you slice it, this team's problem is bad goaltending (and it likely has been since like Belfour left).
For all the talk of Weber and Chara or whoever, there seems to be no acknowledgement at all that they are both (Chara especially) bailed out regularly by awesome goalies.
One way to learn about players is to check out other teams' threads. Weber is regularly trashed when Nashville is down in the dumps. You might be surprised.
I'd way rather have Phaneuf and Kessel than not and likely wouldn't trade either of them. Don't forget how bad this team was broken and while they are still not winning, I'd say they are less broken now than they were. Still don't have a #*&%$! goalie, though.
I don't know why so many people seem to think Weber or whoever would be that much more successful than Phaneuf on this team.
At times he looks great and at times not. But the fact is, no matter what way you slice it, this team's problem is bad goaltending (and it likely has been since like Belfour left).
For all the talk of Weber and Chara or whoever, there seems to be no acknowledgement at all that they are both (Chara especially) bailed out regularly by awesome goalies.
One way to learn about players is to check out other teams' threads. Weber is regularly trashed when Nashville is down in the dumps. You might be surprised.
I'd way rather have Phaneuf and Kessel than not and likely wouldn't trade either of them. Don't forget how bad this team was broken and while they are still not winning, I'd say they are less broken now than they were. Still don't have a #*&%$! goalie, though.
Exactly.
Weber has Suter and Rinne, Chara has SeidenbergThomas/Rask, Phaneuf has Gunnarsson and Reimer/Gustavsson.
Phaneuf should be paired with a stay at home defenseman, especially with a weak goaltending tandem. The 'system' also plays alot into how good players look defensively. Give Carlyle a training camp and us a healthy #1 goalie, and I would imagine you see alot of improvement from Phaneuf and the rest of the Defense.
Stick Weber, Chara etc. in Phaneuf's role with the current roster, and it won't make much of a difference.
I thought when Burke traded a pile of junk to Calgary for Dion and Aulie it was the steal of a lifetime, funny, but Sutter won that trade easily, he rid himself of a 6.5 million defenceman that's getting worse year by year. I don't think he should have extended Stajan, but the real loss in that trade from Calgary's standpoint was Aulie, who I would have loved to see stay in Toronto, but once again Burke decided he was the defenceman that was expendable, that'll hurt going forward, and the captians made of teflon...........nothing sticks, he can do no harm, much like Wilson.
Oh come on. Sutter took back a lot of salary in that deal. Plus, the fact Jay-Bo is an even bigger bust than Dion has not helped Calgary.
Burke still won the trade. Stajan making 3.5 million is much worse than Dion's salary.
And talk to Lightning fans, they're very upset Yzerman let Ashton go. Aulie had some nice upside, but there's no room for him on this team.
I think what he meant to say is the "media" is asking too much of Phaneuf. Everything that's been said the last few weeks has come from the papers and the tv. I doubt any of them have any insider information as to what's being said/done by Dion in the dressing room. Mirtle's got it right. He is what he is, people have insane expectations.
Anytime the papers or TV reports anything negative about the dressing room dynamic, people are quick to dismiss it an suggest that "these people don't really know what's going on in there." As someone that works in the sports media, I assure you, being at practice and in the dressing room on a regular basis does, in fact, give you a lot of insights into the dynamics, relationships, friction, etc. To suggest otherwise is just naive. How do you think someone could attend every home practice and be in the dressing room gathering sound on a daily basis and *not* see these things? It would be extremely difficult not to, if not impossible.
He's best friends with arguably the best captain in the game (Iginla), I'm sure he's managed to get a few pointers from him on what it takes.
Suggesting that Dion Phaneuf is "best friends" with Jarome Iginla is truly absurd. It's safe to say that Dion doesn't have many buddies in the Calgary dressing room.
I don't know why so many people seem to think Weber or whoever would be that much more successful than Phaneuf on this team.
You don't know why people think and elite two-way defenseman who's dramtically better defensively, better offensively, a rock-solid leader and a proven winner would be better than an over-paid, selfish player with mediocre offensive skills and a black hole defensively?
I understand you want to "cheer for your own" but do honestly expect us to believe if Weber was the captain of the Leafs and Phaneuf was doing his human turnstyle routine in Nashville you would be here pretending they were comparable players?
Suggesting that Dion Phaneuf is "best friends" with Jarome Iginla is truly absurd. It's safe to say that Dion doesn't have many buddies in the Calgary dressing room.
Iginla and him were conversing the entire time at the ASG... How would such a claim be "truly absurd"?
