With twenty-eight games under his belt in the 2015/16 season, Phaneuf has set a milestone wearing the Leafs jersey. Last night was Dion’s 400th regular season game with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The thirty year old Captain of the Leafs is in his sixth season with Toronto and five with the ‘C’ stitched onto his chest. His game is certainly much more stabilized playing under Toronto’s new coach Mike Babcock.
Neon Dion and his coach have gotten along famously as the two have praised each other on a few different occasions. Just as Babs took over the coaching duties he made it clear he wanted to make it “safe… for players in Toronto, new ones and ones to come. Attempting to bring back some stability to Leafs Nation Babcock praised Phaneuf saying how much he liked the player and his style of play and vowed Phaneuf would play his best hockey; so far so good.
Dion on Babcock; “Mike is very detailed-oriented, you can see it every day, He reinforces what we need to do to have success, and it starts with individuals. It’s about individuals buying into a team concept. When we do that, we have a chance. He’s done a really good job. I enjoy working for him. I enjoy playing for him. I think there’s lots of work yet, we’ve got lots of room to improve. I feel we’ve taken a lot of steps since the start of training camp.…
If you recall, last year the Red Wings were trying to pry Phaneuf from the Leafs and it just may be that the Wings former Coach Babcock wanted the veteran on his team for their playoff push. Babcock has coached some excellent defensemen in his time, Lidstrom being one of them. He’s had great success making the playoffs every year he has coached at the NHL level, that’s something to be proud of no doubt.
Babcock on Phaneuf; I think he’s playing great, He’s been great all year long, as a leader, as a person, the way he helps our young guys, the way he pushes people. He’s been great.…
There are only thirteen defenseman since expansion in 1967 that have played 400 or more games with Toronto. Dion is now the thirteenth; Salming leads the Leafs with 1099 games played in the blue and white.
A big factor as to why Dion’s game has improved would not only be his partner on the ice, but his ice time is down, a lot. So much that it’s the lowest amount of time logged since his rookie campaign with Calgary in 05/06. Phaneuf is actually on pace to put up his most productive season since his early Calgary days where he was a mean machine laying monstrous hits and putting the puck in the back of the net. Dion just may hit the 50 point mark this season if he continues to produce as he is. Gardiner has been Phaneuf’s partner for most of the season which allowed Dion to move to the left side which he prefers.
Hopefully Ron Wilson and Randy Carlyle are taking notes on how to coach an NHL team in the new era of hockey. One where you actually have to adapt to your teams strengths and work on their weakness’ . Something the both of them couldn’t figure out in their time in Toronto.
Toronto in my opinion has played much better than their record indicates. As expected a slow start at the beginning of the season as Babcock taught his players how to play a responsible game. Now that they have had time to practice and work on their game and create a much more structured game with less puck time in the defensive zone, the buds are starting to grow; as a team.
Other than a few flubs, which happens to every team, the Leafs have been in most games. This team doesn’t give up after giving up the first goal or going down a two goal lead. There is determination, hard work along the boards and voila, success is starting to show.
Phaneuf: “We’re growing. We have to learn how to win. We’re doing that together.…
Phaneuf scooped up a power play assist last night in the second period when Van Riemsdyk put the Leafs ahead with his eight goal of the season. It’s always good to get on the scoreboard in the milestone moments of your career; I think it helps the players remember that moment that much more. Toronto won their only game of the week last night in a shootout as Kadri scored a fancy one undressing Schneider who is still looking for his jock strap in the crease. Another win for Garret Sparks who had a very solid outing last night for the Leafs, he’s now 3-1 on the season.
Top 10 Prospects 2016 Draft:
1. Auston Matthews (center) 2. Jakob Chychrun (defense) 3. Jesse Puljujarvi (right wing) 4. Patrik Laine (left wing) 5. Matthew Tkachuk (left wing) 6. Alex Nylander (right wing) 7. Mike McLeod (center) 8. Pierre-Luc Dubois (left wing) 9. Kale Clague (defense) 10. Max Jones (left wing)
Likely the Leafs will be drafting one of these players with their first round pick. There of course is the chance we make the playoffs or end up outside of the top 10 if Babcock can rally the troops.
Where do you think the Leafs end up, and who do you hope they end up drafting?
Thanks for reading!