Why not Dion in Sochi?

[Leafidelity]

Criminally underrated player in the NHL. He should be in early Norris talks. He's been THAT good.

He's playing the best hockey of his career right now, but the all mighty points aren't what they've been.

 

[KuleminFan41]

Crosby has 40 points in 26 career games against Toronto

Ovechkin has 46 points in 30 career games against Toronto

Tavares has 16 in 15.

If we're under the assumption that top line forwards are getting matched against top line D a la Dion Phaneuf, then he's not really doing such a great job.

There are better D-men in Canada than Dion Phaneuf. Has Vlasic been mentioned by one of the credible sources? Or just on HFBoards by posters?

Now how many of those games was Dion playing in ?

 

[KapG]

If Subban and Letang are going, then so should Phaneuf. That's being honest.

No its not. Especially when its being played on bigger ice surface.

Both of those players are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better skaters than phaneuf.

Man. Some of you guys make me never want to read our home forums.

 

[zeke]

Subban and letang are sheltered away from the other teams top lines, for good reason.

And people are making way too big a deal about the big ice. Hockey is hockey.

 

[Mansfield]

he might make it. after the first 2 it's a tossup. wouldn't be surprised to see him as the fourth LD

 

[The Apologist]

I hope he doesn't personally. Last thing we need is a Phaneuf injury.

 

[bansheebeat]

Phaneuf would be a fine selection. Vlasic would be a better one. Regardless, I'll be happier if he doesn't make it. I agree he's playing the best hockey in his life right now, but he's also shown a tendency to really slow down towards the end of the season. He logs big minutes for us, and I'd love for him to take a couple weeks off in February and rest his legs for the playoffs.

 

[zeke]

Vlasic is a decent #3/#4 dman. He does nothing better than Phaneuf.

 

[dubplatepressure]

I hope he doesn't personally. Last thing we need is a Phaneuf injury.

definitely this.

 

[TheKule]

The fewer Leafs in Sochi the better.

Canada produces the best defenseman in the world, and Dion is not one of our top 6.

 

[Zybalto]

I echo many here that Dion is underrated but I would leave him off the team for one simple reason.....big ice.

It really does lend itself to, not just a more mobile defence core, but a d that has good acceleration and agility. Dion does a lot of things very well but might get exposed with all the room out there. There is a part of me that would love to see him there as he would also have that room to line up a DEVASTATING HIT but the cons outweigh the pros IMO.

 

[Mess]

Personally, the 6 I would send are Weber, Keith, Letang, Seabrook, Subban, Doughty. Boyle as 7th. But that's just me and I'm not on the selection committee.

While Boyle was on the past team, I would substitute him with Alex Pietrangelo and be on my team instead.

Perhaps it would come at the expense of Subban instead.

 

[BonMorrison]

The top 4 defense spots seemed to be locked with Weber, Keith, Pietrangelo, and Doughty. The bottom two spots (and 7th) are up for grabs though.

If I had it my way, I would send Vlasic and Bouwmeester with Subban as the 7th but I would love if Phaneuf went just to troll the hockey universe as well as half our fanbase who thinks he's terrible.

 

[gabeliscious]

Because there's better players

i assumed that was obvious lol

kieth
seabrook
weber
pietrangelo
doughty
bouwmeester
letang
subban


phaneuf is good and probably get under rated by a lot of people but at the end of the day i wouldnt call him elite. he is very good but not at the same level as some of the number 1 defenseman in the nhl.

 

[Raging Bull]

I hope they leave him off, give Dion a break and then focus on the final stretch going into the playoffs.

 

[dredeye]

As many have said, I think once these guys make up their mind's about a player it's game over. Dion has a stigma that follows him about being overrated, hard to work with, (and of course hes a leaf).

If Dion could play like he has this season starting last season and add in some increased production and they'd be dumb to not consider him.

That stigma only applies to HF. The people putting together team Canada are not saying I'd love to have Phaneuf but he's a leaf and is overrated so lets look elsewhere. Canada is blessed with skilled players and it's not an easy team to crack. Phaneuf IMO would not do well on international ice and I'm pretty sure that's at least part of the thinking with the powers that be. If the olympics were in Vancouver this year it could be a different story but he'd still be hard pressed to crack the lineup.

 

[Community]

To be fair, I think Phaneuf should be in over Seabrook... but seabrook will make it because of Keith.

Subban and Letang are pretty much OFD that would be sheltered and I don't think we need them as our PP's would already be pretty good if we just invited 2-way dmen... but maybe we invite one as a PP specialist.

Weber, Pietrangelo, Keith, and Doughty should be the 4 locks.

Then we have Phaneuf, Letang, Subban, Seabrook, Bouwmeester battling it out.

I don't understand why Seabrook should be a lock because he plays with Keith, weren't Chi fans calling for his head last year? and stated Hjalmarsson was way better? Pretty bad in the PO too except for a lucky goal or two.

 

[Burke the Legend]

Dion didn't help the stigma against him by being on the ice for those last 2 minutes in game 7 against Boston. People remember that.

 

[Phaneuffan3]

Crosby has 40 points in 26 career games against Toronto

Ovechkin has 46 points in 30 career games against Toronto

Tavares has 16 in 15.

If we're under the assumption that top line forwards are getting matched against top line D a la Dion Phaneuf, then he's not really doing such a great job.

There are better D-men in Canada than Dion Phaneuf. Has Vlasic been mentioned by one of the credible sources? Or just on HFBoards by posters?

Please consider the fact that the players listed all played against Toronto before phaneuf was traded here, I think it's also interesting thAt you didn't provide any stats for dp to support the fact that he was on the ice or responsible for those goals. Theres also no mention of how many of the points come from even strength vs pp

 

[Phil Kessels Hot Dog]

or he inadvertently takes our jvr and kessel in the same play at some point

it's a double dion!!! Bam, bam!!!

 

[The Blue Devil]

I hope he doesn't personally. Last thing we need is a Phaneuf injury.

While I agree that I don't want him to go for this reason, it still is annoying how people can say that he doesn't deserve to be there.

 

[The Blue Devil]

Dion didn't help the stigma against him by being on the ice for those last 2 minutes in game 7 against Boston. People remember that.

He was on the ice for 9 of the last 10mins, so of course he wasn't at his best.

 

[saffronleaf]

I think Dion is without doubt a top-10 Canadian dman. Whether he can claim that 6th or 7th dman spot is a lot more contentious, and when you factor in the big ice... I don't know.

Personally, I'd love to see Dion represent Canada. I'm a Leafs fan more than anything, and it's going to be hard for me to not cheer on the US a little bit when Kessel and JVR are tearing it up for them.

On the other hand, it'll also be great to see him get some rest for the most important part of the season and (hopefully!) the playoffs. We give him a large amount of minutes against other teams' top lines. He seemed pretty tired by game 7 of the Leafs-Bruins series.

 

[The Blue Devil]

Still funny how overrated Subban is. He's deginitely not as great as people preach, is sheltered and above all else he's a coward.

 

[diceman934]

Still funny how overrated Subban is. He's deginitely not as great as people preach, is sheltered and above all else he's a coward.

Wow.....Subban plays far to much to be sheltered. He is currently in a struggle with his current coach but despite that he is playing almost 25 minutes a night and is second in D man scoring in the NHL. He is second in minutes played on Montreal by 15 seconds. He plays more minutes a night then Dion. So stop with the sheltered comments.

His skating and offensive ability makes him a player that Canada with find hard to leave off the team.