Blockbuster NHL trade sends Phaneuf to Ottawa

The Ottawa Senators acquired Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf in a nine-player trade on Tuesday.

Phaneuf, now 30, was often held responsible for the problems plaguing Toronto in recent years. On a cap ceiling team like the Maple Leafs, that’s daunting. Phaneuf’s abilities were appreciated by Toronto coach Mike Babcock, but his $7 million cap hit through 2019-20 was undesirable for the rebuilding Maple Leafs.

It came without notice, rumour or supposition. So the Sens tried to get rid of their worst contracts, in Cowen and Greening.

This deal was more about ditching the long-term contract of Phaneuf than anything else. And the beat goes on. With this deal, where they did not have to retain any of Phaneuf’s remaining salary (as they had to do in the Phil Kessel trade), the Maple Leafs cleared a whole bunch of it over the next five years. Since they’re in tank-now mode anyway, taking on some overpaid players whose salaries expire in 2017 is fine. That was the sell. The win in all this will depend on what Lamoriello does with the openings. He is an unrestricted free agent after the season. He’s still a long-shot, but his youth means he has time to grow in the organization. That would be insane, really, and highly unusual for the historically unlucky Leafs. Trading him removes a 22-minute a night, reasonably dependable major league defenceman from their roster. Then you’ve got the outside world, which has totally changed for you as well. Perhaps they can get back in the hunt after all.

The Leafs have yet to introduce William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Connor Brown, Dmytro Timashov, their four best prospects up front, to their roster.

Murray said it was a priority for the club to add a left-shooting defender to their top four grouping on the back-end.

In his first hours of being a member of the Ottawa Senators, Dion Phaneuf is quickly getting used to the idea.

The new number represents a “fresh start and a new chapter of my career and life”, Phaneuf said. Lindberg is still on a three year entry-level contract. He has always been the Leafs’ No. 1 defenseman but many believe he will thrive elsewhere as a No. 2, or at least as part of a dynamic duo. “I mean I think we’ll be okay, but it always hurts when you lose a guy like Dion”. “There’s always constant talk”.

At the end of the day however, you have to admit that the biggest victor of all… Let us know in the comments. “That’s the good part”.

“It was tough because you can’t get three better young men”. Going back the other way is Jared Cowen, Colin Greening, Milan Michalek and Tobias Lindberg and the Senators’ second-round pick in 2017. But the scarcity of capable blueliners – even scarcer after Big Buff’s extension – makes talented, if flawed players like Phaneuf suddenly look much more palatable. For that he was crucified on many occasions by the unforgiving spotlight of the Toronto media. The Leafs made news off the ice this week by shipping their captain to their provincial and division rivals and received some pieces in return that will likely see game action tonight against the Oilers. There’s room for this deal to work for both teams.