Dion Phaneuf

Dion Phaneuf Trade

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a 9 player trade with Ottawa which includes Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. The Leafs captain along with Cody Donaghey, Casey Bailey, Matt Frattin and Ryan Rupert are shipping off to Ottawa for exchange for Milan Michalek, Colin Greening, Tobias Lindberg, Jared Cowen and a second-round draft pick in 2017. Dion’s 49 million dollar contact many thought would scare away teams because of cap space. Greening, 29, has spent all of this season in the AHL. But has 256 NHL appearances for the Ottawa Senators. Cowen, 25, has 4 assists in 37 games this season with the Senators. Lindburg, 20, playing in the AHL, was the Senators 4^th round pick in 2013. Michalek, who has six goals and four assists in 32 games this season. The 31-year-old former first-round pick for San Jose.

Personally, I think leafs won this trade. They cleared up cap space so they can make room for Steven Stamkos. Having Dion being the captain this sets the stage for the Laefs to give Steven a blank cheque and the captaincy. With Leafs being on a rebuild I think Lou Lameriello made the right decision moving Dion to acquire a second round pick in 2017 and some young prospects. This means Leafs won’t be a strong team for the rest of this season so they will have a good chance of having one of the top three picks in the draft. Which means they can land top prospects like Austin Mathews, Patric Laine and Jesse Puljujärvi. With moving Dion from the backend the young defenseman have to step up and log heavy minutes like Dion did. These young players on the Leafs will have to step up and show Mike Babcock that they deserve a spot on the team next year.

Overall I think this trade will impact the Leafs in a positive way because they are on a tear down and rebuild. So this trade is a step forward for the Leafs. I think upper management knows what they are doing. Brendan Shanahan and Lou Lameriello have a lot of knowledge and background on the game of hockey so I think Leaf fans should have some trust on what they are doing. A rebuild does not happen overnight, it takes about 2-4 years. Therefore Leaf a fans need to have some patience because they will be losing more than they are winning.