11/05/24
January 31, 2010
Calgary Flames deal Dion Phaneuf to Leafs : The Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off a seven-player trade with the Calgary Flames. Toronto landed star defenceman Dion Phaneuf. The Leafs sent forwards Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers and defenceman Ian White to the Flames for Phaneuf, forward Fredrik Sjostrom and defenceman Keith Aulie. Leaf G.M. Brian Burke said he hopes to announce a second trade shortly. Also, he said his salary-cap situation will be "manageable" if the second deal goes through. The Leafs are near the NHL cap of $56.8-million. "Right now it's like a new pair of underwear, it's uncomfortably tight."
In the Toronto Maple Leafs second (but not sloppy) trade of the day, they have aquired Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the Anaheim Ducks' all-time winningest goalie . The Ducks will receive goalie Vesa Toskala and winger Jason Blake in return.
posted by tommytrump to hockey at 12:43 PM - 14 comments
I gotta agree with The Hat on this one. Darryl Sutter panicked, and settled for sheer numbers in return for Phaneuf.
Between this, and that incident last year in which he dressed three-quarters of a team due to cap bungling, I wonder if it's time for Sutter to hang up his skates.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 01:59 PM on January 31, 2010
second (but not sloppy) trade of the day
I see what you did there.
Agreed that something needed to be done, but hasn't that been the rallying cry in Toronto for quite a few years now? Anyhoo-I think it's a good move. Phaneuf and a healthy Komisarek are a pretty solid base at the blue line, and Phaneuf has an intimidating physical edge about him that the Leafs have been missing for a long time.
Last night's debacle was the first Leafs game I've seen this season, and wow, did that team show absolutely zero heart. I understand that the Sedin line is one of the best in the game, but they seemed to score at will after the first period. All I noticed out of Ian White was that he could skate stride for stride along side of Henrik, never making contact with him, until he set up the game winner. He might be brilliant in other ways, I don't know anything about him except what I saw last night. He just seemed to be a bit timid in a situation where Phaneuf would likely have made the opposing player pay a heavier price.
posted by tahoemoj at 02:33 PM on January 31, 2010
Jamal Mayers
Whatever. Forgot he was even on the team for a while.
Jammer was a solid player with St. Louis for a few years. Fan Favorite, gritty 3rd/4th liner. Not a bad guy to have on the team.
posted by BoKnows at 02:35 PM on January 31, 2010
Burke must have been spitting mad after the Canucks manhandled the Leaves last night. I'm hoping this deal fucks up all three teams involved.
posted by rumple at 02:47 PM on January 31, 2010
Terrible move by Sutter. How do you give up on a guy like Phaneuf as young as he is and with that much talent? The Leafs are usually the ones making the bad moves, but they stole one here.
posted by MGDADDYO at 03:53 PM on January 31, 2010
I don't know how anyone can look at this and come to any other conclusion that the Flames lost this deal big time. I guarantee you that the only player going the other way that the Leafs even remotely want is Ian White. The rest of them are decent players and good guys, but no where close to Phaneuf in terms of pedigree.
Yes Phaneuf has been bad, as the Flames have been - but it's not even close. I would give up three Ian Whites for one Phaneuf. (And of course, this being Toronto, some see White as an all-star to be. I will eat my own fucking head if Ian White is ever an all-star.)
Boknows - I think Jammer is a player that can really help a talented good team. He'd be an impact guy on Vancouver, San Jose and the like. But he does nothing for the Leafs nor Flames. You need goal scorers to be able to give Mayers 10 minutes a night.
And just being able to trade Jason Blake and Toskala is nothing short of a damn miracle. They are borderline NHLers at this point. Seriously. Blake is one of the worst players on the worst team in the league. Toskala IS the worst starting goalie in the league.
Anyway - this is the best day in a year to be a Leaf fan. I feel ten times better about these moves than the Kessel deal.
Still no forwards or centres on the team, but a shitload more talent in some important places. Anyway, the two best players in either trade are Phaneuf and Giguere - and they're both comin' this way!
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 06:06 PM on January 31, 2010
Anyway, the two best players in either trade are Phaneuf and Giguere - and they're both comin' this way!
There's an old sports adage (author unknown).... The team that gets the best player wins the trade.
Leafs win both trades easily in that regard, and we get the bonus of more Elisa Cuthbert sightings in Toronto as well .
posted by tommybiden at 06:12 PM on January 31, 2010
Elisa Cuthbert ... who is that? Can she skate? Leafs could probably use her as well.
At least Calgary has Jerome, the Kipper and a few other guys who show up night after night. Expect Phaneuf to be exposed even worse on the Leafs.
Both Burke and Sutter are essentially just blowing smoke so they can continue collecting their salaries.
posted by cixelsyd at 07:16 PM on January 31, 2010
With Phaneuf coming to Toronto, the Leafs finally have someone they can pin the captain's "C" on their chest.
posted by cletus7777 at 07:41 PM on January 31, 2010
With Phaneuf coming to Toronto, the Leafs finally have someone they can pin the captain's "C" on their chest.
OK, let's not go nuts.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:16 PM on January 31, 2010
This pleases me, the Flames and Leafs may have just engaged in a lose-lose trade.
The amount of money the Leafs now have committed to an average back end is staggering ($30M+ for 6 dmen plus Giguere, ouch), while the Flames lost a high-ceiling d-man while doing nothing about the Jokinen-sized hole next to Iginla. Sutter has pretty much waved the white flag for this lineup and Burke has a completely out-of-whack roster and little cap flexibility or draft picks to do anything about it.
Good luck with Phaneuf, Toronto. If he ever stopped hunting for the big hit long enough to play his position he might live up to that salary but there has been little sign of it in the last couple of seasons. Hope Schenn doesn't pick up too many bad habits from him.
posted by deflated at 08:45 PM on January 31, 2010
I wouldn't call the Leafs defense corps "average".
Kaberle, Beauchimen, Komisarek, Phaneuf is a strong top 4.
Plus, they dumped a lot of money by getting rid of Blake and Toskala.
posted by grum@work at 12:54 AM on February 01, 2010
Grum: currently 30th in goals against, 30th in PK %. Toskala was bad but got no help whatsoever from his skaters. Adding Phanuef and Giguere maybe drags them up to middle of the pack; Phanuef isn't exactly a stay-at-home type and Giguere's SV% is the wrong side of Ray Emery and Andrew Raycroft.
On second thought I may have been generous with 'average'.
posted by deflated at 11:55 AM on February 01, 2010
The Leafs sent forwards Matt Stajan,
Fine. He's replaceable.
Niklas Hagman
A good player, but not huge.
Jamal Mayers
Whatever. Forgot he was even on the team for a while.
and defenceman Ian White
Ouch. I really liked him. He was someone who always tried, every night. He wasn't the best defenseman on the team, but he was the most consistent.
I'm happy to get back someone like Phaneuf who might provide some offensive pop, as well as some more defense.
Aulie and Sjostrom could be decent additions as well.
As a Leafs fan, I'm happy they did something. Not for this year, but for further down the line.