What went wrong with Dion Phaneuf?

FerrisRox

"Wanna go, Prettyboy?"
Sep 17, 2003
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I don't think this is accurate. there were stories teams had no idea he was available and wish they knew. The Flames did not actively shop him around. The Leafs approached them.

I cannot get into details here because of some of the rules of the site, but I can tell you he was aggressively shopped twice, once in the offseason (two teams interested) and once mid-season (one team interested.)

I cannot cite the source, but it's unimpeachable on this topic.
 

Laineux

Registered User
Aug 1, 2011
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The evolution of the game has killed his game.There is no place for the big, strong (and slow) defencemen like him in the league anymore. That player type is dying. Can't be good without great skating and mobility anymore, apart from very few exceptions.
 

Dolemite

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May 4, 2004
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Dion had hip issues which seriously hindered his mobility. He also routinely played through injuries which broke down his body even more. He was a very good D up until 2013 and then the decline really started.

Just like Gaborik and his Groin. He was and can be among the best players in the league but his groin is the worst in the league from worst case tears over the years.
 

Terry Yake

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Aug 5, 2013
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after his first few years with calgary i really thought he was going to become the next great d-man

then his career just stagnated. he's had a solid career but definitely a disappointing one considering the way he played his first few years
 

FerrisRox

"Wanna go, Prettyboy?"
Sep 17, 2003
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Toronto, Ontario
Cullimore got one single vote that career year of his, Streit 11, Phaneuf 561.

You don't honestly think there are 561 members in the Professional Hockey Writers Association do you?

Phaneuf did not get 561 votes. The votes are weighted by 1st place, second place, etc.
 

Albatros

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Aug 19, 2017
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Phaneuf did get 561 votes, each voting member has several votes. The PHWA has hundreds of members out of whom 134 were voting that year. They're the who's who of North American hockey journalism. 115 of them saw Phaneuf in top 5. That's consensus.
 

JianYang

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
17,753
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He's had a good career, and his best hockey was probably when he was paired with Roman hamrlik, who was a pretty good D-man at the time.

Was phaneuf ever the same in calgary after hamrlik left?
 

Fig

Absolute Horse Shirt
Dec 15, 2014
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It's all cool but to keep on the same page I never commented on his defensive game. In Toronto he was put in the role of a #1 dman and he isn't/wasn't one.

?

You said, "I find this interesting because we always see the posters who defend the one dimensional offensive players say that anyone can always improve their defensive game. I knew I was right not to believe them"

I'm saying Phaneuf did develop his d game in Toronto, but probably would have been a far superior dman if he had been trained on his d game by Regehr. He didn't have the right environment to round out his d game once he went to Toronto.

But perhaps I misread your quote.
 
Last edited:

pucky

Registered User
Jan 11, 2011
8,079
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Nothing really went wrong. He's had a very nice career so far.

He adapted his game in Toronto. He went from offensive defenseman who goes for big hits, to a two-way defenseman who still got caught on big hits from time to time, but played a more responsible game.

In Ottawa, he had a solid year last season against the top lines and not being the focal point. This season, everything turned to **** in Ottawa so it's hard to blame him. His skating has regressed, though.

Seems like a good fit for LA.
LOL. He was awful for Toronto. He was often called 'Pylon' and 'Homophobic Sluroof' by fans that were tired of him getting burned in his own zone. He has little mobility and a low hockey IQ. He's able to be physical and on a team like LA, that might cover up for his mistakes, he might be okay but that remains to be seen.
 

Rhaegar Targaryen

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Jun 25, 2016
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LOL. He was awful for Toronto. He was often called 'Pylon' and 'Homophobic Sluroof' by fans that were tired of him getting burned in his own zone. He has little mobility and a low hockey IQ. He's able to be physical and on a team like LA, that might cover up for his mistakes, he might be okay but that remains to be seen.

Because Toronto had a bad team and forced Phaneuf to play a role that was over his head. He was never a #1 defenseman in Toronto, yet the management, fans and media all expected him to be one.

It also doesn’t help that instead of admitting management was leading them nowhere and several trades and signings set them back years, the fans made Phaneuf and Kessel the scapegoats. Both went on to find success once they were traded and put in manageable situations.
 

FerrisRox

"Wanna go, Prettyboy?"
Sep 17, 2003
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Phaneuf did get 561 votes, each voting member has several votes. The PHWA has hundreds of members out of whom 134 were voting that year. They're the who's who of North American hockey journalism. 115 of them saw Phaneuf in top 5. That's consensus.

No, it doesn't have "hundreds of members." Do you actually think there are hundreds of professional hockey writers? Are you serious?

The PHWA currently has 180 voting members and no, they do not cast multiple votes for the same player, surely you realize that doesn't make sense, right? You don't actually think a single voter would vote Phaneuf as the #2 and the #4 defensemen for Norris, right?

The votes are weighted, a first place vote is worth more than a second place vote, etc. Phaneuf did not get 561 votes from a pool of 134 voting members. I would think that was obvious, and yet, clearly its not.

Nicklas Lidstrom, who won the Norris that year, ended up with 1313 "points" in the weighted system on the strength of 127 of the 134 votes that were cast being first place. Did you actually think that Lidstrom received over 1300 votes?

It's odd that you would turn to Norris votes to "prove your point" when you clearly don't understand how it works and then would actually go the lengths of "correcting" me after I point out your error.

Quit while you're "ahead."
 
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authentic

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Jan 28, 2015
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Went down hill right about here

tumblr_lrw9o46B5u1r21bjmo1_500.gif

I lol'd
 

Gee Wally

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In the mid to late 00s, Phaneuf was one of the most promising potential stars of the league with his bone-crushing hits and scoring touch for Calgary. 10 years and 3 teams later, he simply hasn't had the kind of career many foresaw. What stood in the way?

Cutting right to the chase - he’s a lunkhead.
Great tools - bad tool box.
 

Albatros

Registered User
Aug 19, 2017
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No, it doesn't have "hundreds of members." Do you actually think there are hundreds of professional hockey writers? Are you serious?

Yes. Their website currently lists 314 members by name:

Chapters

The PHWA currently has 180 voting members and no, they do not cast multiple votes for the same player, surely you realize that doesn't make sense, right? You don't actually think a single voter would vote Phaneuf as the #2 and the #4 defensemen for Norris, right?

I don't know what you are babbling about. The system is very simple, each voter chooses 5 players and the votes are distributed to those 5 players as follows: 10 votes to 1st, 7 votes to 2nd, 5 votes to 3rd, 3 votes to 4th, and 1 vote to 5th.

The votes are weighted, a first place vote is worth more than a second place vote, etc. Phaneuf did not get 561 votes from a pool of 134 voting members. I would think that was obvious, and yet, clearly its not.

115 out of 134 voters gave votes to him, in total 561:

2007-08 NHL Awards Voting | Hockey-Reference.com
 

The Crypto Guy

Registered User
Jun 26, 2017
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Nothing.

He hit his prime years almost right when he got to the NHL, had a few very good seasons, and then turned into a average Dman. He still has had a respectable NHL career.
 

FerrisRox

"Wanna go, Prettyboy?"
Sep 17, 2003
20,266
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Toronto, Ontario
I don't know what you are babbling about. The system is very simple, each voter chooses 5 players and the votes are distributed to those 5 players as follows: 10 votes to 1st, 7 votes to 2nd, 5 votes to 3rd, 3 votes to 4th, and 1 vote to 5th.

115 out of 134 voters gave votes to him, in total 561:

So you are explaining - back to me - what I just laid out in my previous post and yet, miraculously, you still don't understand how it works.

You claimed that Dion Phaneuf received 561 votes - a mathematical impossibility - and yet a paragraph after you discuss the point system, you again are claiming that he received 561 votes?

Are you serious with this?

You actually included a link that *clearly* illustrates how many votes he got. It's also pretty simple math to take the vote they have shown you and the point system and figure out how they got to 561 yet you are still here pretending that Phaneuf got 561 Norris votes?

This is ridiculous.
 
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