Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
It seems pretty simple to me...Phaneuf and Kessel are good and very good hockey players respectively. They are simply not the type of players you build a winning team around. As has been suggested, swap Kane and Kessel and the results would be the same; ie. Kessel would be a terrific contributor on a 2x cup winning team and Kane would be a great scorer oft criticized on a crappy team.
Haven't read the whole thread so I'm not sure if he has been mentioned, but it's not a whole lot different than Iginla...Iggy certainly had flashes of playing a more well rounded game, but despite very good goaltending and defence, the flames couldn't take the next step with only one elite scoring winger.
There aren't many obvious comparables for Phaneuf, but his role and results aren't really unique in Toronto...Kaberle and McCabe were similarly unfairly positioned as #1 d-men, when they would have been better suited as #2 or 3. The Leafs didn't do much winning with them either.
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They were a legit contender with both.
McCabe is a good example of Toronto defenders getting too much crap. He was really solid.