How many guys play more than 1000 games for the team that drafted them?
Who gives a flying **** about the benchmark? Phillips was a top pairing dman for us for a long, long time.
"Let's celebrate one of our best players who played his entire career for us!"
"Bruh, we are way too cool to care and he is beneath us anyway"
Can we just celebrate something without people complaining about the merit of the celebration?
Okay, there are parts of this that need to be addressed.
Phillips was a top-pairing d-man for maybe 3 seasons: 06-07, 07-08, and 08-09, and that was partially by default as Redden's game began to really drop-off in that first season. Otherwise, he was a solid top 4 guy, but never a star.
One of those seasons saw the Sens make it to the Finals with a team that, on paper, was far weaker than any of the previous 3 seasons' teams. However, if we're being honest, the Sens got some pretty favourable match-ups through the first 3 rounds. Luck is a part of any playoff run, but let's not pretend that any part of the 06-07 Sens was world-beating outside of the Pizza line. The rest of the team was simply solid enough. Phillips and Volchenkov were solid, but their inability to move the puck up ice was always a problem, and, like several aspects of that Sens team, got exposed by a legitimately good Ducks team. Yes, the reffing sucked, but it doesn't change the fact that the Ducks were just that much deeper. They also benefitted from having 2 legitimate stars on D while the Sens had none.
07-08? After that hot start, which was largely due to overplaying the Pizza line, the team just about fell off a cliff down the stretch, limped into the playoffs, and was swept with ease. Phillips and Volchenkov sure weren't stopping Crosby and Malkin from having their way with the Sens, and while that doesn't fall entirely on them, it serves as a reminder that they struggled just as much as anyone.
Say what you will about Corvo's defensive game but without his puck-moving ability (as Redden continued to decline, and Meszaros never really lived up to his potential), the team's defence-corps was effectively neutered for the rest of the season. Phillips and Volchenkov were good at boxing guys out and blocking shots, but when your top-pairing struggles at puck retrieval and transition, and the other guys aren't that good, it's not a recipe for success.
08-09? The first year the team missed the playoffs after over a decade of qualifying? Are we really going to hold that up as proof of Phillips being a star? The lack of depth on that d-corps was a major reason the team struggled. At this point, Phillips was over 30 and past his prime, and it would show with his inconsistency going forward. He had maybe 2 seasons that could be called solid afterward.
I guess you could argue he was a top-pairing guy in 09-10, but that team wasn't especially good either. Karlsson was a rookie, and while he showed promise, especially in the playoffs, he wasn't quite there. Is that what we're using to qualify Phillips as a star? That he played top-pairing minutes on some mediocre teams?
TLDR: Phillips was a solid player who had a few big moments, but not a star, and we shouldn't exaggerate what he was. Sure, he played his whole lengthy career here, and is somehow still willing to tolerate Euge, but I don't think that should automatically qualify someone for jersey retirement. We have the Ring of Honour for guys like this. Maybe if he'd won a Cup or two with the Sens I could see it (a la Ken Daneyko with the Devils), but he didn't, so
