After rumors of his availability have been passed around ever since the end of the season, Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Dion Phaneuf should now be expected to stay with the Ottawa Senators. The 32-year old has a partial no-trade clause and clearly doesn’t want to leave Ottawa for just anywhere, as implicated by his refusal to waive his no-movement clause prior to the expansion draft. While nothing is ever off the table entirely, Phaneuf should be suiting up for the Senators on opening night in 2017-18.
The former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been the target of some ire in Ottawa, mostly due to his contract that will see him cause a cap hit of $7MM for the next four seasons. Though the actual salary drops incrementally to $5.5MM by the last season—an important thing to note for a budget team like Ottawa—Phaneuf’s deal is extremely difficult to trade. His play, though not completely unacceptable, isn’t close to the high-flying offensive defensemen of his youth and not nearly impactful enough to justify his salary. His skating has deteriorated over the years, but he’s still a 30+ point defender capable of logging big minutes in every situation.
Ottawa still definitely has some use for him, especially after Marc Methot was selected and flipped by the Vegas Golden Knights, but a transition to the younger options will need to be done at some point. As players like Thomas Chabot, Ben Harpur and Fredrik Claesson become more and more reliable in the NHL they will draw minutes away from the big defender. Though he may be staying put for now, that doesn’t mean he won’t be on the move in the future.
For now, the Senators and their defensive, trapping coach Guy Boucher will likely employ Phaneuf and Cody Ceci as a sort of shutdown unit once again, freeing up Erik Karlsson and whoever his new partner is (assuming it’s not Phaneuf himself) to contribute more offensively against weaker opposition. It will be interesting to see if Chabot, should he make the team out of camp, is given any powerplay time right off the bat. Phaneuf was a big part of their second unit, but could give way if the younger, more dynamic player is to make an impact.
Definitely excited to see how the youngsters on D look this season, especially after seeing some postseason ice time a couple months ago. Chabot obviously the exception, but he stayed busy as well.
I expect Claesson to excel hopefully on Karlsson left side this year. I think we’ve sadly seen the best of Ceci and he’s a bottom pairing defencemen. If chabot can step right in though and be somewhat of the player he was in junior they’ll be set though. He’s going to be an exciting guy to watch.