Toronto Maple Leafs Shouldn't Trade Dion Phaneuf

By Will Billinghurst
Dion Phaneuf
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Although Dion Phaneuf has many detractors, it’s in the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ best interest to not trade their captain.

Phaneuf came to Toronto in a trade with the Calgary Flames during the 2009-10 NHL season and was named the Maple Leafs’ captain that summer. His caliber of play has continued to regress, becoming an obvious defensive liability the last two seasons. Fans also saw less of what made Phaneuf such a great player with him not making big hits as often nor using his powerful slapshot.

Mike Babcock becoming Toronto’s head coach has caused a resurgence in the level of play that is expected of Phaneuf, with big hits and using his slapshot on the power play. He is having his best season since coming to Toronto with 15 points in 27 games this season.

Now this would seem like the best time to trade Phaneuf since his value has gone up due to his improved play this season, but trading him won’t benefit the team at all. Firstly, it will be hard to find a trade partner with Phaneuf making $7 million a season for six seasons. Even with him playing better, it will still mean Toronto would have to take a bad contract back and wouldn’t get much more than a low draft pick or prospect to compensate for Phaneuf’s bad contract.

Secondly, Toronto would be worse off defensively without Phaneuf. This is not because he is great defensively, but because it means another defenseman will have to play those top minutes and Toronto would lose both their best shot and biggest player on defense.

The return Toronto would get for trading Phaneuf would be small compared to the downside of not having him on the team. Although he is problematic at times, it’s still in Toronto’s best interest not trade Phaneuf.

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