What do you think happened to Dion Phaneuf?

[Big Phil]

We all know his story. Drafted pretty high, 9th overall in 2003, which was a loaded draft. Two excellent World Junior tournaments that sent Pierre Maguire into convulsions. So the sky was the limit when he came into the NHL in 2005-'06 and he didn't disappoint. At the end of the 2006 season there was a poll in The Hockey News asking who they want to have start a franchise. Ovechkin, Crosby or Phaneuf. I can remember Brian Burke quoting that in his heart he can't pass up a defenseman to start a franchise but he still had to take Ovechkin. I mean, this is how it was with Phaneuf. He scored 20 goals as a rookie defenseman. Probably would have done just fine in the Olympics had he been picked in 2006. It was the most loaded Calder race I ever saw, so he finished 3rd, even ahead of Lundqvist. 8th for the Norris. Then 6th in 2007 and then 2nd in 2008. A 60 point season in his 3rd year while also being a punishing hitter. Wow. How can we lose from here? The guy is going straight to the Hall of Fame.

Then a rough year in 2009, finished 12th in Norris voting. Then 16th in 2010, and he gets traded to the Leafs. He went from absolute lock for the 2010 Olympic team and future Norrises in 2008 to not even on the team, and not even the best guy NOT picked on the team. Then it was a trying time on the Leafs. Nowhere near being considered for the 2014 Olympic team. He was a punching bag for Leaf fans. He was loathed by them in the way Bryan McCabe was. Blamed for everything. Blamed for the Boston loss in 2013 for being on the ice for so many goals. Then bounces over the Sens, then a couple of shaky years on the Kings where he couldn't score a goal to save his life. He had 6 points in his final year of hockey, close to a full season, in 2019. He's 33.

On the flip side, he is married to one of the best looking women in Hollywood. I think at least. But seriously, what happened to him? I saw his whole career and can't remember a major injury. I get that maybe Calgary started declining a bit at least. But he got a lot worse at a time when he should have got better. Looking at stats his power play goals dropped a lot after season 3. I don't know why, and while that explains a bit of offense lost it still doesn't explain it all. His hits were legendary at the beginning of his career. He was a feared guy out there. But by the end, or even by the middle, he was a clumsy defenseman out there.

What did you think happened to what looked like a future HHOFer? Calgary did trade him at the right time, that aged well.

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[Pominville Knows]

He got found out man.
Also; less powerplays for his shot.

 

[Breakers]

A guy who after his rookie season would have had those “old boys club” GM’s frothing.
And even GM’s who appreciated more of a finesse game frothing

20 goals
200 plus hits (4th in the league)
That was talked about so much 20 goals and all those hits.

But that style of pinching to make a hit was so unsustainable. Just odd man rushes galore and leaving your partner out to dry.

That pinch in OT in the playoffs while playing for Toronto was one of the most discussed plays for like a few seasons in that city. Somebody else would know, but I just watched the OT clip on YouTube and one of the players wives is caught on camera, she turns around & the level of disgust and eye rolling she throws at phaneufs wife is hilarious. Not sure who’s wife it is though. That was talked about a lot too, and is so funny.
The 1:58 mark. LOLOLOL

 

[93LEAFS]

NHL really shifted against the type of hits he was trying to lay due to concussions, combined with the fact coaches hadn't fully exploited how the removal of the two-line pass offsides stopped teams from funneling guys to heavy hitters. Dion's hockey IQ/style was built around that being an integral part of his game. Once you couldn't lay those hits and the risk/reward dramatically shifted his game never adapted.

 

[norrisnick]

You can only get so far in life with smoke and mirrors. He was never as good as his early voting record would indicate.

 

[McGarnagle]

A guy who after his rookie season would have had those “old boys club” GM’s frothing.
And even GM’s who appreciated more of a finesse game frothing

20 goals
200 plus hits (4th in the league)

But that style of pinching to make a hit was so unsustainable. Just odd man rushes galore and leaving your partner out to dry.

That pinch in OT in the playoffs while playing for Toronto was one of the most discussed plays for like a few seasons in that city. Somebody else would know, but I just watched the OT clip on YouTube and one of the players wives is caught on camera, she turns around & the level of disgust and eye rolling she throws at phaneufs wife is hilarious. Not sure who’s wife it is though. That was talked about a lot too, and is so funny.
The 1:58 mark. LOLOLOL

That was Reimer's wife. One of the favorite hockey gifs of the early-mid 2010s.

 

[who_me?]

Avery's sloppy seconds comment broke him.

 

[overpass]

Phaneuf had the stats and the highlights but he wasn’t a good defensive player at the NHL level. It took a few years for everyone to notice, maybe because he was playing out west.

Only +19 in his first five seasons in Calgary, on a good Flames team that was +84 as a team. Robyn Regehr played the tougher matchups and was +56.

 

[McGarnagle]

Anyway, Phaneuf was what he was. Heavy slapshot, huge hitter, physical force, but horrible footwork, freelanced and took reckless chances trying to lay the hit instead of playing the puck too frequently, often cheap, low IQ player. A high risk/reward gambler of a player. He was a jolt of energy the first few years in Calgary, but the league got a lot faster by around 2008 and that wasn't good for him. His strong suits were good enough to keep him in the league fairly successfully until 2019 though.

I think he also had a lot of flack because of the hype he entered the league with after Pierre McGuire practically climaxed for his DOUBLE DION at the WJC.

His career ended up kind of being like a store brand Pronger. Not bad but didn't reach the heights people projected when he was a rookie.

 

[norrisnick]

Anyway, Phaneuf was what he was. Heavy slapshot, huge hitter, physical force, but horrible footwork, freelanced and took reckless chances trying to lay the hit instead of playing the puck too frequently, often cheap, low IQ player. A high risk/reward gambler of a player. He was a jolt of energy the first few years in Calgary, but the league got a lot faster by around 2008 and that wasn't good for him. His strong suits were good enough to keep him in the league fairly successfully until 2019 though.

I think he also had a lot of flack because of the hype he entered the league with after Pierre McGuire practically climaxed for his DOUBLE DION at the WJC.

His career ended up kind of being like a store brand Pronger. Not bad but didn't reach the heights people projected when he was a rookie.

Store brand Pronger? He was essentially a counterfeit Rob Blake. Same player.

 

[McGarnagle]

Store brand Pronger? He was essentially a counterfeit Rob Blake. Same player.

Fair comparison.

I just tend to compare every tall-ish defenseman to Pronger in the end because of eye test bias.

 

[Nick Hansen]

He had an injury around the time of the trade to Toronto that slowed him down considerably. Not that he ever was the most mobile defenseman but that dragged him down further. I think he had a certain athleticism to him, coupled with the size, before that which was enticing but it kinda went away then. The mediocre hockey IQ caught up with him at that point.

 

[tabness]

Probably better suited for the slower dead puck era than the new NHL he came up in

 

[overpass]

I remember the same thing as Phil about Phaneuf’s Olympic prospects around 2008. There was a lot of opportunity on the defence after Niedermayer and Pronger. Phaneuf looked to have the inside track for a spot. Then Weber and Keith arrived in 2008-09, and by the time Doughty hit his stride in 2009-10, Phaneuf was all but out of the picture.

Although Phaneuf may have never been a good fit with Mike Babcock, who preferred to have his defencemen play their strong side. Phaneuf’s one-timer and offensive game were much better on the right than on the left.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

He got found out man.
Also; less powerplays for his shot.

As someone who watched a lot of his early career, this is pretty much the case.

Phaneuf was a classic poser. Acted tough, ran his mouth a lot, but by 2009 everybody knew he was fake. He needed that alpha dog swagger to be effective out there, and he had it early on, but once it was gone and he realized nobody was scared of him, that was it.

 

[Big Phil]

A guy who after his rookie season would have had those “old boys club” GM’s frothing.
And even GM’s who appreciated more of a finesse game frothing

20 goals
200 plus hits (4th in the league)
That was talked about so much 20 goals and all those hits.

But that style of pinching to make a hit was so unsustainable. Just odd man rushes galore and leaving your partner out to dry.

That pinch in OT in the playoffs while playing for Toronto was one of the most discussed plays for like a few seasons in that city. Somebody else would know, but I just watched the OT clip on YouTube and one of the players wives is caught on camera, she turns around & the level of disgust and eye rolling she throws at phaneufs wife is hilarious. Not sure who’s wife it is though. That was talked about a lot too, and is so funny.
The 1:58 mark. LOLOLOL

Sports media at its "finest". They ended up retracting that notion that Reimer's wife April was rolling her eyes at Phaneuf's wife Elisha Cuthbert. None of it was true. It made a great story, but it was a lie. Good story though, because it made it seem like the wrath from even one of the wife's was against Phaneuf. But the truth is, after the goal went in, a fan behind both of the wives said something. Not sure what it was. Maybe it was against Reimer, maybe Phaneuf, maybe just the Leafs in general. It may have been vulgar, but April was reacting to his reaction with disgust. She looks over at Cuthbert and Cuthbert gives her one of those "whatever just ignore him" type of looks. That's it. Watch it again.

A couple of things. My goodness are there better looking wives in the world than NHL wives? And secondly, I have no idea why they seemed to have such lousy seats.

 

[BraveCanadian]

He looked great early on when he played for a team that could play him to his strengths and had strong partners to cover for him etc.

Once he went to Toronto, he played a lot of tough tough minutes on a badly constructed team and it showed. He had most of the tools - but no toolbox - and he also seemed to lose a half step which really hurt as the league opened up more which really hurt in his new role.

I honestly don't think he even played badly in Toronto, he was just in over his head. Would have been a much better #2 or #3 with a strong stay at home partner.

 

[Ishdul]

At the end of the 2006 season there was a poll in The Hockey News asking who they want to have start a franchise. Ovechkin, Crosby or Phaneuf. I can remember Brian Burke quoting that in his heart he can't pass up a defenseman to start a franchise but he still had to take Ovechkin.

I know people would say things like that at the time but it was always, always, always an insane thing to believe. Even in the most favourable outcome it's hard to imagine him having a better career than what Ovechkin or Crosby have achieved or were expected to achieve. It always just felt like it was just a way to say you liked hard hitting defensemen.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

He hit his peak when paired with Roman Hamrlik (that pairing was a force) in Calgary. Then gets traded to Toronto and his expectations were through the roof that he was never able to live up to expectations in the biggest spotlight in all of Canada. I think the pressure got to him.

 

[Leafshater67]

He could have kept up those numbers in a defensively sheltered role with a shutdown partner and top PP time like Calgary. He moved to a worse situation in Toronto where they needed him to be more well rounded and better than he actually is plus playing that physical kind of game never ages well. His body was done at 33 and may have slowed him down earlier too.

 

[Gambitman]

I think by the time of the Toronto trade it was we’ll known that he was overrated. I lived in Calgary when it happened and there was utter dismay at how little the flames got for him and what a terrible trade it was. Assuming Sutter isn’t an idiot I think he got the most that was available which admittedly wasn’t much.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Pierre got into his head.

 

[ceg195]

Sports media at its "finest". They ended up retracting that notion that Reimer's wife April was rolling her eyes at Phaneuf's wife Elisha Cuthbert. None of it was true. It made a great story, but it was a lie. Good story though, because it made it seem like the wrath from even one of the wife's was against Phaneuf. But the truth is, after the goal went in, a fan behind both of the wives said something. Not sure what it was. Maybe it was against Reimer, maybe Phaneuf, maybe just the Leafs in general. It may have been vulgar, but April was reacting to his reaction with disgust. She looks over at Cuthbert and Cuthbert gives her one of those "whatever just ignore him" type of looks. That's it. Watch it again.

A couple of things. My goodness are there better looking wives in the world than NHL wives? And secondly, I have no idea why they seemed to have such lousy seats.

Yeah, if you watch her eyes you can see she actually looks beyond Elisha first then looks at her thinking "stupid fans."

 

[sr edler]

My goodness are there better looking wives in the world than NHL wives?

Depends on your taste I guess, it seems to me a lot of top athletes in general dates/marries models/bimbos, which kinda makes a lot of sense because jocks/athletes are essentially the male version of a bimbo, so logically they would work well together (?). Bimbo though, as you probably already know, is actually originally a male term, originating from the Italian word for a young male child. The feminine version is bimba.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

NHL really shifted against the type of hits he was trying to lay due to concussions, combined with the fact coaches hadn't fully exploited how the removal of the two-line pass offsides stopped teams from funneling guys to heavy hitters. Dion's hockey IQ/style was built around that being an integral part of his game. Once you couldn't lay those hits and the risk/reward dramatically shifted his game never adapted.

this

but i'll also add that early on when he was succeeding, he was put in the best possible position for a guy like that succeed. he was in a top four where regehr and partner took on the tough defensive matchups while he was stapled to a seasoned vet (hamrlik, then aucoin) who knew his instincts (because they used to be the same player once upon a time) and cover up for his high risk/high reward play.

as he grew to take on more responsibility, the training wheels started came off and he never grew into his bigger roles.