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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.)
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Darryl only coached him for one season and it was his rookie year so this comment seems a little out of sorts seeing he was a Calder finalist with an impressive 49 point initial season and that Flames team was very good defensively. Also he was a Norris finalist under Keenan and there was never any indication that he was in Keenan's bad books. I don't think it's any secret he wasn't the most popular guy in the room but I don't it was until Brent Sutter took over that things really went bad as Brent wanted the team to play a more responsible brand of hockey and to be fair Phaneuf was not the only player that was at odds with that. Also as has been said some GM's commented they didn't even know he was available which is not what you normally hear when a player is shopped as much as this unanimous poster claims.