Dion Phaneuf traded to Toronto

[Asher]

Holy ****!

Phaneuf, Sjostrom and Aulie to Toronto for Hagman, Stajan, Mayers and white.

So far I do NOT like the returns... three are UFA at the end of the year. Sutter was just dumping Phaneuf's salary?

[Asher]

Still doesn't make sense to me.

Dion Phaneuf: $6.5 cap hit, under contract to 2013-14
Freddie Sjostrom: $0.75 cap hit, under contact to 2010-11
Keith Aulie: Prospect, a good one...3rd on our prospect list accordiding to Hockeys Future: http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/Keith_Aulie

Total cap: $7.25

for

Nik Hagman: $3m cap hit, under contract to 2011-12
Matt Stajan: $1.75 cap hit, UFA
Jamal Mayers: $1.33 cap hit, UFA
Ian White: $0.850 cap hit, RFA

Total cap: $6.92

And I'm not sure the Flames just got better...

[Asher]

Leafs just acquired Giguere AND a first round pick from Anaheim for Toskala.

How the **** does Burke manage this stuff? This is incredible.

Edit: Now I see. Giguere to Toronto for Toskala AND Jason Blake.

[Asher]

Flames free up $4.25-million salary (minus what White gets in an RFA deal) for next season.

[Asher]

I think the Leafs are out of forwards.

[Asher]

Calgary now has 3 black roster players. I do think that's a record. Iginla, Mayers, and Dawes.

What prize do we get?

[Tingkai]

When I read about the Phanuef deal, I just had to come back and say WTF.

Even if Phaneuf gets back to his old form, the Leafs don't need another d-man. They need scorers.

So Asher, from the Flames perspective, how does this trade help this season?

White's a great utility player, but do the Flames need one?

Stajan a center, and the Flames seen to have enough.

Hagman might be the key for the trade, giving the Flames a first line LW.

(By the by, watched the Flames-Oilers game. Gotta love Iginla's Howe hat trick)

Giguere deal could a great one for the Leafs.

[Asher]

Tingkai! Long time no see!

This can help the Flames in a few ways. The biggest is cap space next year: they now have $4.3M more. They had way too much money invested long-term in their top 4 D (Bouwmeester for $6.68M, Phaneuf for $6.5M, Regehr for $4.02M, Sarich for $3.6M).

The other problem was a lack of scoring. The Flames needed someone else who can score, badly. Hagman can (Flames basically got 2 20-goal scorers in Hagman and Stajan). With the extra cap space for next year, Sutter can acquire another expensive forward to help out...

Phaneuf has underperformed for two seasons in a row now. He needed a change of scenery, as the coaching changes did not help him.

[Tingkai]

Thanks for the welcome back.

Hmmh, so possibly something like a Hagman-Stajan-Iginla with Glencross-Jokinen-Bourque on second line. If the chemistry is right, could have potential

Or does Sutter use some of the guys he picked up to flip for a proven high scorer?

[Flubber]

So Asher, from the Flames perspective, how does this trade help this season?

White's a great utility player, but do the Flames need one?

Stajan a center, and the Flames seen to have enough.

Hagman might be the key for the trade, giving the Flames a first line LW.

.

This could help a LOT (this year)

Lets see-- FLames players listed by goals scored

Iggy 24
Hagman 20
Bourque 18
Stajan 16 (now second on the Flames in points)

Top scoring Flames D-man is Ian White with 9




My bottom line-- The Flames had a surplus of very very good d-men that they really could not afford given their lack of scoring. The emergence of Mark Giordano this year as the Flames best sparkplug back there meant that it was tough to justify monster minutes for Phaneuf. Personally I would have looked to trade Regehr off the roster but there was no way he gets the same return as Phaneuf. This could backfire in the long run as Phaneuf still has the possibilities to become an elite (best in the league type) defenceman
.
Its obvious that the Flames traded for now-- perhaps Sutter was beginning to feel the heat while the Leafs traded for the future.

Think about it-- While slips in on d and replaces Phanuef ( he has one fewer goal and 5 MORE assists thsi year) . Sjostrom was a sometimes healthy scratch but a good PK guy but lets say that Mayers replaces him-- So that means for this season the Flames have added Hagman and Stajan and have probably created some very very intense competition for playing time

Look at these lines

Hagman-Stajan-Iggy
Bourque- Langkow- dawes
Glencross-Ollie - Moss
Conroy-Boyd-Nystrom-Prust-Mayers-Backlund-Mcgratton-Lundemark

Boyd, Nystrom, Backlund and Lundmarke all have hopes to be more than 4th liners-- Ollie should want better than 3rd line status etc etc. It seems like almost too many forwards but I like the idea that Sutter can sit guys and have realistic replacements available

The leafs have gutted their lineup for this year in the interest of obtaining someone they see as a long-term asset.

Oh and I was unhappy to give up Aulie.

[Asher]

The more I think about it the more I like it for right now. It does improve the scoring depth while the defensive depth is, more or less, unchanged.

My problem is in the potential of Phaneuf. He's only 24 years old, he could very well be a winner of multiple Norris trophies in his career. Then again, he may be a Daigle...

[Flubber]

This can help the Flames in a few ways. The biggest is cap space next year: they now have $4.3M more. They had way too much money invested long-term in their top 4 D (Bouwmeester for $6.68M, Phaneuf for $6.5M, Regehr for $4.02M, Sarich for $3.6M).
.

And throw into that mix that

1. Giordano has been playing really really well and cannot be denied top 4 minutes

2. Pardy has proven very capable as a steady top 6 guy

3. Johnsson and Knonwall have both been very good when called on to fill the # 6 spot


It just got to the point where Phanurf frequently seemed to be the number 3 or number 4 guy overall -- and arguably number 5 or 6 when the Flames had a lead (remember those days)-- heck I saw lots of times when Sarich and Pardy were called on in those situations

[Flubber]

The more I think about it the more I like it for right now. It does improve the scoring depth while the defensive depth is, more or less, unchanged.

Yup-- for this season this could be good-- It could actually be VERY good-- I don't know enough about White but even if he slots in as poorly as a number 5 guy, the Flames d is just fine.

My problem is in the potential of Phaneuf. He's only 24 years old, he could very well be a winner of multiple Norris trophies in his career. Then again, he may be a Daigle...

Thats the risk in this deal-- that Phaneuf will turn into a GREAT d-man-- I see it most likely that Phaneuf will be good for Toronto for years-- not a Daigle-- a very good player but not as great as was hoped--



Overall I think the trade was good for both teams

[Tingkai]

Nothing against White, he's the one guy I think the Leafs should have kept because of his versatility, but his points might be inflated a bit because he was used as a forward at times.

[Guynemer]

Wow