Toronto Mike

Dion Phaneuf Traded to Sens

The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded captain Dion Phaneuf, Matt Frattin, Casey Bailey, Ryan Rupert and Cody Donaghey in exchange for Jared Cowen, Colin Greening, Milan Michálek, Tobias Lindberg and a 2nd-round draft pick in 2017.

Dion Phaneuf was brought to Toronto in a big 7-player swap with Calgary back in 2010. I enjoyed his Leafs debut from the 3rd row.

Today, Phaneuf is a 30-year old with five years remaining on a seven-year contract he signed two seasons ago worth an average annual value of $7 million. Quite simply, he had to go.

I never hated him the way many Leafs fans did, but I understand where that anger comes from. He was our captain, paid to be a top pairing defenseman, but failing to deliver on the promise of either. It's time to move on....

Update:

On episode 74 of my podcast, Jeff Marek told me what went wrong for Dion in Toronto. Here's that short 1:45 clip.

Author image
About Toronto Mike
Toronto
I own TMDS and host Toronto MIke'd. Become a Patron.