Listeners won’t hear that again in Ottawa.
Advertisement
In his first hours of being a member of the Ottawa Senators, Dion Phaneuf is quickly getting used to the idea. Forwards Matt Fratten, Casey Bailey and Ryan Rupert, plus defenseman Cody Donaghey go with Phaneuf to the Senators for defenseman Jared Cowen, plus forwards Colin Greening, Milan Michalek and Tobias Lindberg.
In financial terms, it was rather more complicated. No salary retained, just a bunch of bodies crisscrossing the province.
Senators general manager Bryan Murray said he had no qualms making a deal with a division rival.
The 31-year-old Czech was drafted sixth overall by San Jose in 2003. He will earn $3.2 million in the final year of his contract next season.
While Ottawa now picks up Phaneuf’s hefty contract, which runs through 2021 at $7 million per season, the Senators also are sending away the big contracts of Greening ($2.75 million per year through 2017) and Cowen ($3.1 million average through 2017). With Phaneuf, Karlsson, Methot, and Borowiecki (one of these things is not like the others) on long deals, Ottawa probably can’t afford to re-sign all four of those guys.
“We’re so used to seeing him with the “C” on for the Toronto Maple Leafs”, Ceci said, “but now he’s a teammate so all that’s behind us”.
“I’m talking”, said Lamoriello on Monday of the trade market. In 2010, the Leafs and Flames struck a seven-player deal that brought the six-foot-three, 227-pound defenceman to Toronto, where he quickly became team captain and slowly became a target for fan disenchantment. Good luck with that, Toronto. And some of what impression he did make was bad. Teams are throwing around second-round picks this season like they used to. Though they are picking up a large (and much longer) contract with Phaneuf, there comes some immediate savings for the team. It’s sure possible that the Leafs just completely tricked the Senators into taking a player who is worth significantly less than his contract, and that’s before you get into the long-term nature of that contract. They each have a few very good players, and then a good amount of crap.
“That’s just at the rink”.
James Reimer may have put it best when he said “To be the face of the team when you are losing is tough”.
Perhaps this is also the best for Phaneuf.
Phaneuf, 30, had skated in 423 games with the Maple Leafs through parts of seven seasons, registering 196 points (45 goals and 151 assists) and 598 penalty minutes.
60 – The number of points Phaneuf scored in the 2007-08 season, when he was a finalist for the Norris trophy as best defenceman.
“I’ve worked for a lot of great hockey people there in management”.
“It’s obviously a major one for us, we’ve been looking for someone to help our “D” corps for a while and he was the option”, said Senators captain and all-star defenceman Erik Karlsson. He is a right-hand shot, but he and Phaneuf may only see ice time together on the power play. Lindberg has shown good playmaking ability in his first professional season and has five goals and 22 points in 34 games with Binghamton.
Advertisement
They are four points out of a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with 28 games remaining.
