Captain Dion a -6

[rumman]

and you'd think with his shot he'd use it on the powerplay, only thing he's hit is Lupul's arm.

 

[JackJ]

Granted he got 32 minutes last night, which is overboard for total minutes played by a defenseman if you ask me.

But something needs to change. Either he's not really a top 2 D, or he needs Gunnarson back, and needs to go back to his normal D position.

Never was. Only a #3.

 

[KuleminFan41]

Please correct me if I'm wrong... But are you saying that the player with the worse plus/minus in the entire league is playing good defensive hockey?

Remember... EVERY teams best defenseman is Playing against the other teams best players. Yet dion still has the lowest +/- IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE!!!

Dion also doesn't play for Boston,NYR,Vancouver,Detroit etc. He plays for the Leafs. We're NOT the best team in the league, we don't have an elite goalie despite Reimer playing very well. Things happened. The first couple games people praised Phaneuf now he sucks? Shows how terrible this fan base really is. If you can't handle being a hockey fan, don't be one. Simple as that.+- "stat" is disliked by many players,coaches and hockey analysts because it does NOT have a real indicator on how good a player is defensively.Its an entire team effort, not only on Phaneuf because he has a letter on his jersey.

What a pathetic logic , also look at some of the goals being allowed, some of them have been rather soft and lets not forget Phaneuf hasn't been on the ice for many goals either but I'm willing to bet you'd still complain if he had a + rating anyways so why bother complaining?

 

[SteveV*]

Did you know you can store all brain cells, used for posts after a Leafs loss, on the head of pin?

 

[TheBigThree]

I'm not a huge fan of Dion, but he's by far our best defenseman. +/- is total ********. He got a - when NY scored on a 4 on 2 with him playing with an AHL partner. 32 ****ing minutes? He's not god damn superman. Where the hell were our forwards?

Our 2 Best players last night were Dion and Reimer.

Lol is this a joke? I have watched every game so far and 3 out of 5 games he's been horrid.

 

[SteveV*]

Lol is this a joke? I have watched every game so far and 3 out of 5 games he's been horrid.

Okay, but you do know not to wear 3D glasses with normal TV right? That might explain your synopsis of Dion's play.

PHANEUF HAS BEEN FINE, THE COACH IS OVERPLAYING HIM AND HE'S WILTING AS THE GAME GOES ON.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Okay, but you do know not to wear 3D glasses with normal TV right? That might explain your synopsis of Dion's play.

PHANEUF HAS BEEN FINE, THE COACH IS OVERPLAYING HIM AND HE'S WILTING AS THE GAME GOES ON.

Agreed 100%.

Some people watch hockey and think they know whats going on, but they dont.

 

[4evaBlue]

Oh, look. Another Dion bashing thread on the front page.

 

[NazemKadri43]

Playing on the wrong side, 30 minutes a game with a career ahler......terrible ice time management by Caryle

 

[number72]

If I'm Kostka I would be talking to Randy about why I'm being played with such a lousy defensive partner in Phaneuf. The defense last night (and the last few games) has been terrible but Phaneuf was having a few Lebda quality moments with his positioning, play and hockey decisions.

 

[MajorityRules*]

So I'm guessing everyone is going to turn on RC very soon. I mean nobody liked Wilson and yet that's 2 well established coaches that have been riding Phaneuf for 30 minutes a night. So, which is it. Do you trust Carlyle and his choice to run with Phaneuf or have you decided you know better.

 

[SteveV*]

If I'm Kostka I would be talking to Randy about why I'm being played with such a lousy defensive partner in Phaneuf.

 

[FerrisRox]

He's a former Norris Trophie candidate, an all star just last year and a couple of years ago everyone was shocked he didn't make Team Canada for the Olympics. How is he not a 1st pairing defencemen? He's just playing too much right now, especially for not really playing since last April.

You know that there's a massive difference between playing in the All-Star game and "being an All-Star defeneman" right?

One of them means you've been picked as a representative of your team. For example, Brad Marsh played in the All-Star game for the Ottawa Sentors. So did Peter Sidorkiewicz.

Being an "All-Star defenseman" means you were named by the league to either the 1st or 2nd team All-Stars at season end. Dion Phaneuf most assuredly was not.

Also... uh, not a single hockey observer was even mildly surprised that Phaneuf wasn't on Team Canada. And even if they were - which they were not - Phanuef's game has slid *a lot* since his first few years in Calgary. He's not even remotely the same player and even that guy was grossly over-rated. The Leafs got a lemon.

 

[613Leafer]

He just needs a brain transplant...

Serriously though, not trying to be offensive to him, just an observation. But i seriously think what seperates him from Weber is intelligence. He can hit, shoot, and move the puck at a high level. Essentially all criticisms of his game have to do with decision making.

Its his ability to read plays, choose the correct angles defensively, his decisions to take poor penalties, to just hit ppl in front of the net instead of tying up their sticks so they cant shoot and THEN hitting them, etc. that makes him worse.

 

[CellarDweller0]

So you opted o NOT stop with the homerism.

Fascinating.

Remember... Every leaf player is tied for being the best player EVER, regardless of stats, observation, and factual evidence.

if you are going to compare his performance to other dmen at least compare him fairly. how many of the dmen that you are comparing him to are playing the same minutes?

 

[Pilky01]

He just needs a brain transplant...

Serriously though, not trying to be offensive to him, just an observation. But i seriously think what seperates him from Weber is intelligence. He can hit, shoot, and move the puck at a high level. Essentially all criticisms of his game have to do with decision making.

Its his ability to read plays, choose the correct angles defensively, his decisions to take poor penalties, to just hit ppl in front of the net instead of tying up their sticks so they cant shoot and THEN hitting them, etc. that makes him worse.

Phanuef has poor hockey sense because in general he is a dumb person.

Look no further than his captaincy press conference where he was barely able to read the prepared statement that was right in front of him.

This team wont be able to put the Brian Burke disaster behind them until Phanuef is gone.

As others have said, he is a decent second pairing defender, but that is it. Having a neanderthal like him as captain does way more harm than good.

He's a former Norris Trophie candidate, an all star just last year and a couple of years ago everyone was shocked he didn't make Team Canada for the Olympics. How is he not a 1st pairing defencemen? He's just playing too much right now, especially for not really playing since last April.

What?!

 

[A1LeafNation]

Phanuef has poor hockey sense because in general he is a dumb person.

Look no further than his captaincy press conference where he was barely able to read the prepared statement that was right in front of him.

This team wont be able to put the Brian Burke disaster behind them until Phanuef is gone.

As others have said, he is a decent second pairing defender, but that is it. Having a neanderthal like him as captain does way more harm than good.

LOL, you think Burke's tenure was a disaster?

We have cap space and a future. Just because his guys haven't developed yet doesn't mean he screwed us up.

Some people have no vision and cannot see beyond the tip of their nose.

 

[birddog*]

Granted he got 32 minutes last night, which is overboard for total minutes played by a defenseman if you ask me.

But something needs to change. Either he's not really a top 2 D, or he needs Gunnarson back, and needs to go back to his normal D position.

Putting him with Kosta and playing 31 minutes against the other teams top lines is a dis-service. This experiment needs to end. Carlyle needs to admit he was wrong and this is not working. Let's see if he can admit he is wrong. Something Burke or Wilson could never do. The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one. Kosta on the first paring is a problem.

 

[Gobias Industries]

Just a review of the goals last night:

1st goal - Gets taken from behind, lacking defensive awareness - Kostka didn't cover him well either

2nd goal - Misplayed the pass to the front, Kostka more at fault, but both looked bad

3rd goal - Defensive breakdown by Kulemin, could have been handled better by Phaneuf

5th goal - Empty net, but he still didn't look great

I would say they were a big reason they lost the game, but I don't think it's wilting, as they were worse on the first two, both before the midpoint of the third.

Definitely deserve less ice time, I would blame Kostka first.

 

[Pilky01]

LOL, you think Burke's tenure was a disaster?

We have cap space and a future. Just because his guys haven't developed yet doesn't mean he screwed us up.

Some people have no vision and cannot see beyond the tip of their nose.

So after four years of expressly not rebuilding while playing in zero playoff games the team is left with "cap space and a future".

And that is supposed to be success?

 

[BudMaster17]

I'm not a huge fan of Dion, but he's by far our best defenseman. +/- is total ********. He got a - when NY scored on a 4 on 2 with him playing with an AHL partner. 32 ****ing minutes? He's not god damn superman. Where the hell were our forwards?

Our 2 Best players last night were Dion and Reimer.

I agree Dion did decent last night considering he was put in a position to fail. Caryle needs to give his head a shake

 

[7even]

Rangers have played four other games... Whih means 8 other 1st line defenders.

How come those other defenseman aren't all -8?

I'm not necessarily saying that phaneuf sucks... I'm just saying that EVERY other teams 1st pairing defenseman play against the other teams best players... And phaneuf has more goals scored against while he is on the ice han any other player in he entire league

Because our team is awful. We've had 12 goals against in 2 games. Guess who's got the biggest chance of being on the ice for those goals? Yep, the guy who's on the ice the most.

It's not that hard guys. And +/- is a stupid stat. So just stop.

 

[Gobias Industries]

Because our team is awful. We've had 12 goals against in 2 games. Guess who's got the biggest chance of being on the ice for those goals? Yep, the guy who's on the ice the most.

It's not that hard guys. And +/- is a stupid stat. So just stop.

It's really not a stupid stat, actually I don't know if there is such a thing as a stupid stat.

Just stupid people reading stats without context, like what you just provided.

 

[A1LeafNation]

So after four years of expressly not rebuilding while playing in zero playoff games the team is left with "cap space and a future".

And that is supposed to be success?

Like I said: Some people have no vision and cannot see beyond the tip of their nose.

The fact that the Leafs didn't make the playoffs in 4 means only means that they were set up badly from the players we had, to the prospects in the cupboard when Burke took over.

 

[Srsly]

He's taking a lot of heat for last night's game, but I don't think he's entirely to blame. The forwards missed a lot of assignments. Reimer wasn't good enough either.

Seems a little silly to blame Reimer when he faced 42 shots. I thought he looked solid for the most part and what goals he should have had were made up for with some nice saves that would have beaten most NHL level goalies.

As for Dion he connected with some solid hits but I think he was noticeably tired towards the end of the game and as such mistakes can and will happen. 32 minutes is ridiculous.

It's kind of silly to blame one player for last nights loss. We were outplayed as a whole and when you're outshot 42 to 17 you're not going to win many games.