Dion Phaneuf

[Leafidelity]

People always complain about Kessel having a bad centerman when Phaneuf consistently has worse d partners. Yes that's including Gunnarsson. He's not a top pairing dman.

If Phaneuf takes a pay cut/hometown discount to better reflect his value to the team I will not be so hard on him.

That's... a really bad reason to be hard on a player. Like awful.

 

[MastuhNinks]

They also inspire their teammates and are easy to get behind if you are fans of their teams.

Dion couldn't encourage or inspire a 5 year old to grab a lollipop. He's an awful captain

Wow! We actually have a team member of the Toronto Maple Leafs posting on here! Interesting to see the opinion of a guy who actually operates under Dion's leadership. I mean, obviously you're a Leafs player otherwise you wouldn't know so much about Phaneuf's leadership ability.

So, can you at least give us a hint as to who you are?

 

[notdoneyet]

Dion takes a lot of crap from haters on this board. When he is minus in a game they all come here and shat on him. Look at last game 25 mnutes a night, shut dowm tavares and his line., was a plus 2 and scored the game winning goal, yet where were the haters then.

Lets look at DP this year

logging over 25 minutes a night
plays against the other teams top line
getting points when needed
playing all year with 2 NHL dmen who are not ready yet for
the amount of minutes they have to play
He has 4 goals and 6 assists for 10 points and is -7
all with partners not ready for 25 minutes a night

Lets take a look at a comparsion dman who all the DP haters
would love to have on our team.

Drew Doughty
he played last year with willie Mitchell and was an all star
this year with WM out lets look at DD stats.
has no goals 8 assists and is a -6. See what having a #2 NHL
calibre stay at home dman brings to you(WM). It lets DD plays his game

Using the same logic as DP haters then DD certainly is not a
#1 dman becasue his plus minus is awful, he has no points for what he is paid,
and he is not a good leader because he doesnt fight

 

[Jtabo]

Sundin's leadership was rarely questioned by the media that were close to him on a regular basis.

It was more often than not questioned immediately after losses where fans were mad and chose to scapegoat the reserved Swede.

And you are right - there's no subjective way to measure inspiration. I just don't find Dion that inspiring at all. Look at Mats, or Dougie, or some of the other captains in this team's history. Heck, look at some of the great captains across the league right now. Does Dion inspire you in the same way that those guys do?

I highly doubt it

What more does he have to do to be inspiring? I'm curious. Are big hits, goals, fights, not enough to inspire your teammates? Are playing the most minutes night in night out and playing consistent game in game out not enough? And lets look at other captains around the league shall we:

Sedin
Gionta
Streit
Salvador
Zetterberg
Koivu
Pomminville

I'd rather have the hard nosed two way dman as my captain than any of them. Not saying I wouldn't want those players, just saying if we had them, id still want Dion with the C

 

[member 147413]

Poor AND slow decision making leading to frequent turnovers and he's not playing the same physical and offensive game we expect.

Move him to forward...

edit: I realize he'd be better playing HIS game with a TOP stay at home guy beside him.

 

[Skeptix]

Can we please get an NHL D to parter with him?

Kostka is okay but he's not that good with Phaneuf.
Holzer is an AHL'er.

Jake Gardiner needs to be his partner.

Why does no one realize Jake isn't ready? He looked lost after he came from the concussion.

 

[leafspring*]

Why does no one realize Jake isn't ready? He looked lost after he came from the concussion.

Gardiner is ready i think. Having Gardiner with the Marlies depleted roster(all the callups) doesn't really help his stats offensively,but he just had a 3 point game on feb 24th 1G/2A.

Liles needs to be moved first,and Komi is not playing because of whatever happened between him and Carlyle when he got the splinter in his eye.At the time Carlyle just answered "it was stupid".

Komisarek was playing well previously though,and he will be kept around.Holzer is the odd man out if they want jake up right now.Liles traded would allow Holzer to stay.

Nonis needs to get Liles moved.

Gardiner could use some improvement to his defensive game,and could also be seen as not ready in that respect.
So i can't totally disagree.

 

[number72]

People always complain about Kessel having a bad centerman when Phaneuf consistently has worse d partners. Yes that's including Gunnarsson. He's not a top pairing dman.

Taveres doesn't have great line mates and I don't see fans complain like people do of Kessel. People will come to realize that Kessel and Phaneuf are support pieces and are not sufficient as core blocks. That is, Kessel and Phaneuf cannot or do not make players around them better like Taveres or a Shea Weber could. That is not a knock on Kessel or Phaneuf but just to say they are notch below these other elite and top line players.

 

[Parkdale]

Taveres doesn't have great line mates and I don't see fans complain like people do of Kessel. People will come to realize that Kessel and Phaneuf are support pieces and are not sufficient as core blocks. That is, Kessel and Phaneuf cannot or do not make players around them better like Taveres or a Shea Weber could. That is not a knock on Kessel or Phaneuf but just to say they are notch below these other elite and top line players.

Agree with this. That said, Phaneuf and Kessel are among if not the best Leafs. The challenge for Nonis is not to overpay these two next year and to reserve enough cap space in case the opportunity to sign (or to take on the contract of) a truly elite player comes their way. Not an easy task....

 

[The Blue Devil]

Sundin's leadership was rarely questioned by the media that were close to him on a regular basis.

It was more often than not questioned immediately after losses where fans were mad and chose to scapegoat the reserved Swede.

And you are right - there's no subjective way to measure inspiration. I just don't find Dion that inspiring at all. Look at Mats, or Dougie, or some of the other captains in this team's history. Heck, look at some of the great captains across the league right now. Does Dion inspire you in the same way that those guys do?

I highly doubt it

I'm sorry, are you on the bench or in the dressing room all the time to actually confirm this?

 

[The Blue Devil]

Taveres doesn't have great line mates and I don't see fans complain like people do of Kessel. People will come to realize that Kessel and Phaneuf are support pieces and are not sufficient as core blocks. That is, Kessel and Phaneuf cannot or do not make players around them better like Taveres or a Shea Weber could. That is not a knock on Kessel or Phaneuf but just to say they are notch below these other elite and top line players.

Phaneuf has made Aulie, Kostka and Holzer look like top 4 NHL Dmen.

 

[Duffman955]

Who do you guys think is the ideal partner for Phaneuf? So far he has been making AHL defensemen look like top 4 NHL caliber.

Phaneuf would look like the true #1D that he is, if he had a partner that is a solid top 4D.

 

[HockeyThoughts]

Taveres doesn't have great line mates and I don't see fans complain like people do of Kessel. People will come to realize that Kessel and Phaneuf are support pieces and are not sufficient as core blocks. That is, Kessel and Phaneuf cannot or do not make players around them better like Taveres or a Shea Weber could. That is not a knock on Kessel or Phaneuf but just to say they are notch below these other elite and top line players.

John Tavares plays with a multiple 30G(3-time) scorer on his wing and in his career season, last season he also had a ~70pt winger in PA Paranteau on his other wing. This is the equivalent to Lupul and 30G Kulemin or 12/13 JVR playing alongside Kessel - a drastic difference from Tyler Bozak.

Shea Weber has played his entire career with another top 5 defenseman in Ryan Suter. Now that they are separated is it a coincidence that Weber's numbers almost exactly mirror Phaneuf? Nope. They are both #1 defenseman playing alongside 2nd pairing defenseman. Though Roman Josi does appear to be breaking out ala Carl Gunnarsson.

 

[darty]

Still think his ice time is a little too high per game and he makes some bone-head plays now and then, but he's obviously our best D-man. Not convinced about him being the captain, but he's an important part of this team and overall I'm glad we have him.