[FlamesAllTheWay]

One of the pundits on TSN said it best (and I paraphrase):

You don't trade a guy like Dion Phaneuf to shake things up or to get more offensive depth at forward. You trade him to get him out of town.

The guy was a cancer in the room. A distraction, and that was the driving force behind this trade. Everyone here knows he will become even better than he is now. Contend for the Norris. Likely be a franchise D-man somewhere. Play for Team Canada. It wont come as a suprise when it happens either. Yet, we traded him anyways. People can counter with "show me proof" all they want. This is something that has been lingering around this team for the past few seasons and never really goes away. A little more than, say, just a random Eklund blog post that quickly fades into oblivion. In that sense this trade becomes a bit of an addition by subtraction as well. Also lowered Phaneuf's trade value a bit... we had to throw in a good prospect along with Dion to make this happen.

Good return, IMO. We are a better team today than we were yesterday. Hagman and Stajan can pitch in with offence here and there. White has been playing great in Toronto this year. Second best D from what I understand. Cheap too. Biggest thing is that we now have options on the ice and off the ice, with regards to the salary cap. Sutter may finally understand that putting all your eggs into one basket and then hoping your bargain players overachieve may not be the best approach to building a team. Probably signals a bit of a shift in his whole managerial philosophy.

Very happy with this. I think we will start to see some positive change with this team as a result.