Dion Phaneuf: His time in Calgary

[ToewsFan]

Recently found this on a hockey forum. Unsubstantiated, but an interesting read, nonetheless:

"Phaneuf was extensively shopped around the league on multiple occasions.

Darryl Sutter was extremely frustrated with Phaneuf because he felt that he had every single tool required to be a top notch defensemen but he refused to put them together.

The coaching staff, and many teammates, felt Phaneuf was a selfish player and he routinely took himself out of position to land massive hits, often at the expense of team defense. Phaneuf was well known of watching TSN hilites in the dressing room and calling over teammates to see his hits. This led to an uncomfortable confrontation in the locker room with Iginla and Daymond Langkow telling him that a particular hit led to a 2-on-1 because not only did he take himself out of position on the hit, but he also "stood over" the guy after like "Muhammad Ali." He was told, in no uncertain terms, to cut it out.

Darryl Sutter, when he coached the Flames, grew very frustrated with Phaneuf's refusal to grasp the basics of positioning and to play within his limitations (he didn't have the skating skills to get back in position when he intentionally took himself out of position.) A large mandate for the hiring of Mike Keenan was to get Phaneuf to play defense and his history with Chris Pronger was a huge part of the hire.

Very early in Keenan's tenure as the coach of the Flames, he went to Sutter and recommended that Sutter trade Phaneuf and said the kid "had a ten cent head." Sutter didn't listen and friction began to grow between the two because Sutter insisted that Phaneuf "learn on the job" and not have his ice time cut. There's a lot more stuff with Keenan/Sutter/Phaneuf, but that is a whole other can of worms. Ultimately, Keenan asked a few times for Phaneuf to be dealt and felt he was an issue on the ice but also very unpopular in the room. As far as I know, Sutter never even entertained the idea.

Later that same season Todd Bertuzzi got into with him during a game because he returned to the bench bragging about a hit and Bertuzzi told him that he abandoned his position to land the hit and that he needed to start playing for the guys on the bench instead of "the guys at TSN."

Darryl Sutter ultimately fired Keenan and hired his brother Brent to coach and again tasked him with getting Phaneuf to play defense. Brent came back, during the pre-season with the same response as Keenan, that the Flames would be a better team with Dion then they were with him because he was much more interested in his stats and his hilight reel hits than he was in playing defense. By this point, Darryl had given Phaneuf a large contract but realized that perhaps he had gone all in on the wrong hand. During the preseason, for the first time, he shopped Phaneuf around the league and was shocked to find only two teams were interested in him (in terms of a trade, there were a handful of other clubs willing to dump a contract and essentially saddle the Flames with another even less appetizing problem.) The two clubs were the LA Kings and the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the Kings offer involved a player that Sutter was very wary of taking on (not sure who it was.) Sutter wanted to give his brother more time to fix the issues because he didn't like the trade options.

Brent then tried to get through to Phaneuf. In particular, Sutter told him that a "great game" would be a game where nobody noticed him at all because he was just doing his job. This didn't sit well with Phaneuf at all because he felt he was being "held back." He also suggested that his teammates were jealous of his success (to Sutter, not to them) and Brent said the only success anybody cares about is winning a Stanley Cup, and told Dion he was nowhere near achieving that. By Christmas, the situation had become worse, his teammates at this point essentially ignored him and Brent had told Darryl (who wanted Phaneuf to get steady ice time) that he was in awkward position where he would discipline and limit ice time for other guys for bad play and he was being asked not to do that with Dion. Over the Christmas break, Darryl agreed to finally move Dion. He once again shopped him around the league and now Los Angeles was no longer interested in making a move. Sutter found this situation was now worse, a handful of teams kicked the tires but wanted the Flames to eat money and/or take on money. Brian Burke was the only General Manager willing to actually trade for him in a "hockey deal." Sutter pulled the trigger and internally considered the move addition by subtraction. When Phaneuf came and grabbed his personal effects from the locker room there was reportedly a round of applause when he left the room (something he clearly could hear from outside the door.) When the Leafs immediately announced that he would be named captain of the team many of the Flames were reduced to fits of hysterical laughter because they couldn't believe such a selfish player could be handed the C, let aloe a player that had never even suited up for the team.

This situation repeated itself when the Maple Leafs ultimately moved him. He was shopped around the league and from what I understand only two teams expressed any interest in him and in both cases the Leafs would end up with a lot of dead contracts. Ottawa's offer was the least troubling one."

Thoughts?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by ToewsFan

Thoughts?

Without being confirmed or knowing the source, I think it is useless.

[TheFlamesVan]

Well all of this makes way more sense than the common rumour of "he was sleeping with (insert name) wife"

[Domoic]

Knowing the source would be helpful, but it was a fun read nonetheless.

Fun = not useless!

[CroFlames]

Some disparaging remarks about a player that could potentially be made up out of thin air.

Not fair to the player to write something like that without attaching a name to it. Coward.

[ToewsFan]

Originally Posted by Domoic

Knowing the source would be helpful, but it was a fun read nonetheless.

Fun = not useless!

"FerrisRox" said it on HFBoards.

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/sh...#post132739249

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by ToewsFan

Thoughts?

Average fanfic, needs more Avery.

[Calgary4LIfe]

This narrative wouldn't surprise me, but I do think it is mostly narrative. I remember after the Dion trade, there were some GMs that were 'surprised' that Dion was even available, and at least one apparently stated he would have given more up for Phaneuf. No GMs were named, so this was just rumors that the media came out with, but it does contradict the narrative above.

I don't know.. I am glad he wasn't a part of the Flames for a while. He had an amazing start to his career (only 2 defencemen scored more goals to start their careers in the first 2 (or 3) seasons - Orr and Coffey), but it was easy to see he was more of an issue than an asset, though most here feel the return was very underwhelming.

[Hot_Flatus]

Without sources, I could re-post this article entirely in the opposite direction and it would accomplish the same thing. This is nothing but hearsay and even at that rate, it's worse as it is posted as second-hand hearsay.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Some disparaging remarks about a player that could potentially be made up out of thin air.

Not fair to the player to write something like that without attaching a name to it. Coward.

Agree with the no name comment, but if you ever had the pleasure of meeting Dion in and around Calgary, you'd have a hard time coming to the conclusion that those comments were made up out of thin air. My parents spend the summer in PEI, and I can tell you the Islanders are also no fan of Dion and his summer exploits.

[pylon]

No Ghetto Blaster talk, no care.

[mrdonkey]

Needed more vampires, 6/10

[Northendzone]

there were many times when I watched him play and I wondered to myself if he was being coached at all.

in the comments above, it seems as if sutter wanted to trade him, but not cut his ice time

anwyas, interesting read, I guess only the guys in the room would know which parts are true and which are fiction

[ToewsFan]

Originally Posted by pylon

No Ghetto Blaster talk, no care.

He boldly changed the radio station. Leadership personified. His role as Leafs captain was cemented.

[Toonage]

Dear Penthouse...

[troutman]

No idea how true OP is, but I feel like Dion has matured in Ottawa. I was impressed with his interviews during these playoffs. Seems to be more of a team player now.

[Otto-matic]

I was always confused why Keenan was sacked, he got a lot out of his teams during his tenure here. Granted he had his faults but he did a hell of a lot better then Brent Sutter. This shines a bit of light onto why Keenan was terminated early in his contract.

[Frequitude]

I believe it. It just makes too much sense.

I'd also love to see him win a Stanley Cup just so I could watch the world burn.

[RougeUnderoos]

Who knows about the inner workings of the dressing room and the coach/management? Not me, that's for sure. But none of that sounds far-fetched in the least.

There can't be a Flames fan alive who doesn't believe Dion was an arrogant guy who wanted big stats and highlight reel hits. That was more than half the charm. And there was plenty of charm. He was beloved here on this very message board for being exactly that guy. Until he was too old for it. But at the start, it was great.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Almost anyone who has followed Dion's career and the rumours surrounding him in Calgary could have written that.

I'm not saying I think it is for sure made up, it is just that all the author really did was fill in the blanks with some details that have been speculated on a regular basis on CP for years.