News Article: Dion Phaneuf retires, to be honoured by Maple Leafs

[PROUD PAPA]

I was never much of a Phaneuf fan. Thought he was overrated right from his rookie season and it carried on through most of his career. Wasn't sad to see him moved.
That said he was our captain so that in itself is worthy of recognition.

 

[HandshakeLineRespect]

Looks like some snowflakes still cant get over "salute gate" which was totally blown way out of proportion. I'd get annoyed too with jerseys and waffles raining down on me and the absurd hate alot of those player received. Not easy being a leaf in terms of fan and media scrutiny and certainly not easy being a captain. Fact of the matter he always handled himself with pure class and was always front and center to answer the hard questions. Wish him the best.

 

[Maplebeasts]

honouring complete failure ?

Not his fault.

 

[HogTown06]

I didn't care for him but it's hard to blame the guy for cashing the big paychecks...

Maybe rage on the morons that gave him that bad contract?

 

[stickty111]

Dion didn't build those awful Burke/Nonis teams. He was also always front and centre at the camera ready to take the heat when the team wants doing well.

I'm happy the team is doing this for him

Wouldn't mind bringing him back into team support role of some sort. Maybe scout or something. Seems like based on him touring 2 years ago and today's comments he is interested.

 

[Gabriel426]

Wouldn't mind bringing him back into team support role of some sort. Maybe scout or something. Seems like based on him touring 2 years ago and today's comments he is interested.

His new role should be something along the line with fans interaction

 

[TMLife17]

His new role should be something along the line with fans interaction

Ha! We’re not investing in that

 

[Crosscrease14]

Looks like some snowflakes still cant get over "salute gate" which was totally blown way out of proportion. I'd get annoyed too with jerseys and waffles raining down on me and the absurd hate alot of those player received. Not easy being a leaf in terms of fan and media scrutiny and certainly not easy being a captain. Fact of the matter he always handled himself with pure class and was always front and center to answer the hard questions. Wish him the best.

Respect your opinion but I disagree. If anything the player leadership were acting like snowflakes. They make millions to play a game and are only able to do that because of fan support.

Yeah, Toronto can be a tough place to play. Lots of criticism. The fans care. Saluting the fans is such a minor and easy thing to do. Screams entitled to me. I'm glad all of those players have since been moved.

 

[BudForLife]

Ok Dion…Give us one final moose stare

 

[stickty111]

Respect your opinion but I disagree. If anything the player leadership were acting like snowflakes. They make millions to play a game and are only able to do that because of fan support.

Yeah, Toronto can be a tough place to play. Lots of criticism. The fans care. Saluting the fans is such a minor and easy thing to do. Screams entitled to me. I'm glad all of those players have since been moved.

And guys like Kessel, Bozak and Phaneuf all had success afterwards. That tells me they weren't the main problem.

 

[Leaf Rocket]

I will wear my Phaneuf jersey tonight then. He did the best he could with what he had and shielded the rest of the team and franchise from most of the criticism. His clean hitting ability has been missed.

The amount of crap he received was something for sure. He's always been very pleasant in person for sure. Will wish always nothing but the best.

 

[capfit9]

Not his fault.

it's nobodies fault except for the people involved, right ?

 

[leaffaninvancouver]

Are Burke & Nonis being honoured ? No.

Phaneuf was part of the failure. They had to give him away to Ottawa plus let's not forget Salute Gate, the fans did not exactly get much respect from him.

Salute gate was a bunch of dumb nonsense the media stoked into a huge outrage. Us vs the world is a pretty tried and tested motivation technique but people lost their damn minds.

 

[CapspaceKiller]

He was overpaid and shouldn't have been captain while here. Doesn't mean he didn't try his best and wasn't a solid #2-3 defenceman. I appreciated that he worked hard on a team where 90% of the players didn't.

 

[leaffaninvancouver]

it's nobodies fault except for the people involved, right ?

For a poster who's so obsessed about the role of the current GM that you made a negative photo about him into your profile picture. You sure do seem to want to blame the players for the past GM's choices.

 

[Crosscrease14]

And guys like Kessel, Bozak and Phaneuf all had success afterwards. That tells me they weren't the main problem.

They had success in support roles under well established leadership. I agree it was management's fault at the time for putting them in a leadership role. They aren't bad players and I'm happy to see them go on to succeed but salute gate showed they weren't cut out to lead a Toronto team. They had to go. JMO

 

[Optimist]

Had a rare opportunity to spend some one on one time with Dion in the dressing room after beating the Bruins 5 to 1 on a HNIC game. Really awesome guy to talk to away from the cameras. Good luck Dion.

 

[cupcrazyman]

He stopped playing in 2019 btw.

 

[notDatsyuk]

And guys like Kessel, Bozak and Phaneuf all had success afterwards. That tells me they weren't the main problem.

Absolutely. They were just misused.

Kessel wasn't a #1 winger. When he was used on the second line in Pittsburg, he was fine.

Bozak wasn't a #1 center, but was quite good in St Louis as a second or third.

Phaneuf wasn't a #1 defenceman, but was fine as a second.

Burke misjudged Kessel and Phaneuf, overpaid for them, and left us with no option but to misuse them. Bozak he get real lucky on.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

I remember his mid season contract extension.

I lost it.


Certainly a big piece of the Franchise history

Enjoy retirement Dion

 

[PromisedLand]

Hated Salute Gate. That said -> Always liked Dion. Under his leadership Leafs finally saw a playoff round after almost a decade. yea i know Game 7 was a nightmare

Wish him well !

Thanks for the memories. Double Dion!!!

 

[HandshakeLineRespect]

Respect your opinion but I disagree. If anything the player leadership were acting like snowflakes. They make millions to play a game and are only able to do that because of fan support.

Yeah, Toronto can be a tough place to play. Lots of criticism. The fans care. Saluting the fans is such a minor and easy thing to do. Screams entitled to me. I'm glad all of those players have since been moved.

I think i will place more value on the actual hard work Dion did throughout his career when it comes to him winning humanitarian awards, work with sick kids, under the radar charitable work etc. Waving your stick in the air for 3 seconds at the end of some random game holds literally zero value and it was all just a bunch of manufactured outrage.

 

[DarkKnight]

Trading that untradeable contract was one of Lou’s better moves.

Was miscast, but a decent player and a good teammate, I’d give him an ovation.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Basically what this tells me is that I should tune in around 7:20.

 

[TMLeafer]

I hate that salute gate term, way overblown. But guess who the team they lost to was. Nashville. Full circle