Leafs See Phaneuf as a Cornerstone Player
Craig Custance - SportingNews.com
Feb 01, 2010
Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke clearly enjoys this aspect of his job. Trades, to a gunslinger like him, are fun.
"There's excitement that builds around something like this," he said Sunday. "I think the juice in the general manager's job is deals. This is when you feel like a GM -- when you're making trades."
The key, of course, is feeling this excited about the trades four years from now. Sunday morning, the Maple Leafs dramatically changed the makeup of their roster in shipping away Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, Matt Stajan, Ian White, Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala in deals with the Flames and Ducks that brought back defenseman Dion Phaneuf and goalie Jean-Sebastien Gigure, among others.
But really, the judgment of these deals from a Toronto perspective comes down to just one guy: Phaneuf. It used to be you could look at trades like the ones that went down on Sunday, identify which team ended up with the best player and that was your winner.
Those days are gone. Everything has to be weighed against salary cap implications. The Ducks did well to get rid of the $6 million cap hit that Giguere was scheduled to carry next season as the backup to Jonas Hiller. There were plenty of hockey people who thought that, because of the cap hit, Giguere was nearly untradable.
Meanwhile, the Flames have set themselves up to have money to play with this summer when they pursue the scoring help they need up front. And they've done it without damaging their playoff hopes this year.
"In my mind, Calgary is in the playoffs now with this trade," Burke said.
But Sunday was about Burke and the Maple Leafs. He landed the prize in Phaneuf, the physical, 24-year-old defenseman with a cannon of a shot. The deal was the second major trade in which Burke went out and acquired a talented, elite young player, following September's deal for sniper Phil Kessel.
Burke is building this team with Phaneuf and Kessel as his cornerstones. Both are signed through the 2013-14 season, and both have the skill level of elite, top-end players. But both have questions about whether they have the makeup to be cornerstone talents.
Some guys you build around and there's no doubt, like Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin. Just below them are players like Jonathan Toews, Eric Staal and Zach Parise -- all pretty darn good franchise building blocks.
Are Phaneuf and Kessel at that level? Can they be?
"I like Kessel and I like Dion, but to me they're a notch below those guys," former NHL GM Doug MacLean told Sporting News. "When you put four or five years in those two players -- that's your future. You still have to add a major piece to make them what they can be."
And that's the problem with Phaneuf and Kessel. There's still debate whether they are elite players who make teammates better, or players who need good players around them to become elite.
Like Kessel, there's also a question about Phaneuf's attitude. And, as we know, personality flaws are only magnified in Toronto.
Burke isn't concerned about any of it.
"(Phaneuf) is an elite player," Burke said. "I know him personally. I'm not worried about that at all. If that were a concern ... we wouldn't be making this deal."
There's no doubt Burke has upgraded the talent in Toronto, and in an astonishingly short period of time. The Maple Leafs are younger. There's more talent. And Burke hopes these trades will lead to the kind of competition for ice time on which successful teams thrive.
He's done it the hard way. It's almost easier to tank it for a few years, stockpile draft picks and hope they pan out into elite talent. Instead, he's seizing the talent.
It's gutsy, it's a gamble and it's the way Burke builds a team. And like any gamble, there are no guarantee it's going to work out.
Burke is building his Toronto legacy around Kessel and Phaneuf. His track record, and Stanley Cup ring, suggest he knows what he's doing. But these two aren't automatic.
"I like them both as players," MacLean said. "But I'm not convinced they're franchise players. That's the only downside."
Craig Custance covers the NHL for Sporting News. E-mail him at ccustance@sportingnews.com.
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