Quote:
Originally Posted by BloodFetish
Successful teams in the cap era maximize their youth by not overpaying them in their RFA days. Sutter dug himself a hole by giving Phaneuf insane money on his second contract. The day he did that he also set the table for Phaneuf's departure.
As it turns out, Phaneuf looks to be delining in points for the third straight season - that's the wrong direction for a former Norris finalist with a $6.5 million cap hit. A very real danger for Sutter would be to NOT trade Phaneuf now and watch his value plummet further, to the point where his cap hit would be virtually untradable.
In the end Sutter did what he had to do. He addressed the immediate scoring needs and with the new-found cap flexibility set himself up well for the off-season. You can argue about the pieces he got back, but the fact remains: Phaneuf had to go for this team to become better.
I liked Dion's physical assets and his end-to-end rushes. I absolutely hated his lackadaisical defensive play. I think his biggest problem was between the ears.
Good luck in TO, Dion.
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Dion is declining in his
second straight year. If you look at Bouws, he had a similar decline in points too and is on pace for his 3rd worst season. He may be better defensively but doesn't scare other teams because he is soft - he never hits!