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On first review, a good day for the Leafs

January 31, 2010 04:34 PM | Posted by   Scott Morrison  

At first glance, it’s hard not to think the Maple Leafs had a very good day Sunday.

Of course, as usual, it happened off the ice.

Let’s break down the two major deals in the NHL, the first seeing the Leafs acquire defenceman Dion Phaneuf, forward Fredrik Sjostrom and prospect defenceman Keith Aulie from the Calgary Flames in exchange for forwards Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers and defenceman Ian White.

If that doesn’t conjure memories of Jan. 2, 1992 for Leafs and Flames fans, then you’re simply not old enough. Ask your father or big brother about what happened that day.

Okay, what happened that day is the Leafs and Flames made a 10-player deal that involved Doug Gilmour as the centrepiece coming to Toronto.

Now, Phaneuf is not Gilmour and likely will never have the impact of Gilmour in Toronto, but you never know, either.

But what the Leafs did 18 years ago is similar to what they did yesterday – blow up a team that would never be good enough and bring in key pieces around which they could build.

All of a sudden, the Leafs have made themselves a younger team with a chance to look forward.

Phaneuf may not be having a good season and his offensive output may be in decline (though that has happened to others in Calgary), but at age 24 there is still a potentially huge upside.

Remember, this is a guy who was a two-time all-star, a Calder contender and who was penciled in on many people’s Canadian Olympic roster. And he is a darn sight better than anything the Leafs gave up, even en masse.

There are no all-stars or potential trophy winners in that mix.

Phaneuf has the potential, too, to make the Leafs power play better, and he is a physical presence added to a team that wasn’t team tough. As Leafs coach Ron Wilson put it, he is a big, dominant physical presence at both ends of the rink.

He just has to play better, though he was hardly a stiff.

All of that is not to say, either, that the deal won’t work for the Flames, who were clearly in need of a fix.

But looking at it from a Toronto perspective they have acquired a talent for a very good price, giving up two players (Stajan and Mayers) they probably wouldn’t have re-signed in the summer.

Hagman and White were both good for the Leafs, but what you see is what you get. Stajan, Hagman and White will all be good for the Flames, but good enough to get that team going again is hard to call.

On the flip side, what you see with Phaneuf right now is not his best and there may be so much more to come.

Flames needed a fix

From the Calgary perspective, like we said, they needed a fix and an infusion of something. Obviously, their position of strength from which to deal was defence, with the off-season addition of Jay Bouwmeester and the improvement of Mark Giordano this season.

And while the Flames would no doubt admit the best player in the deal was Phaneuf, there were no guarantees it was ever going to work again for him in Calgary.

He was a player who divided the fans – some loved him, some saw him as the poster child for whatever ailed the club and that was never going to change.

There is no question he makes major mistakes and needs an upgrade in his play, but like a lot of players that may be achieved in part through a change of scenery.

The Flames get a good defenceman, with good offensive talent in White, but his game has likely peaked.

Hagman is a reliable, useful forward who annually scores 20 goals, so he will help their popgun offence up front, as will Stajan, who is a good playmaker.

Neither is a first liner, though, and it still feels like that was what the Flames needed and possibly could have received for Phaneuf. But perhaps the volume in the deal is what makes it work for general manager Darryl Sutter.

In all cases, he is adding good people to his dressing room.

As for the second big deal of the day, the Leafs acquired goaltender J.S. Giguere in exchange for goaltender Vesa Toskala and forward Jason Blake.

Unloading Blake a surprise

Leafs general manager Brian Burke has been a big booster of adding another NHL award – top GM. For this deal, he may win it.

The fact he was able to unload Blake and his contract is something few thought they would ever see. True, he adds a whopper in Giguere, but he also might have fixed his goaltending problem in the process.

At worst, it is a saw-off in terms of his goaltending situation and he is rid of Blake.

Remember, too, that Giguere is being reunited not only with the GM he won a Stanley Cup with in Anaheim, but also his goaltending coach, Francois Allaire.

Yes, his game has suffered over the past season or so, but he wasn’t horrible, either. A return to Allaire may be an elixir.

After signing Jonas Hiller to a four-year, $18-million US deal on Saturday, the Ducks had to move Giguere moving forward. They could have $11.5 million tied up in goal next season and they can only hope that Anaheim can make Blake the 40-goal scorer he was on Long Island.

No overnight solution

Bottom line for the Leafs, is the deals today are not going to make them better overnight. Not unlike what happened in 1992, Cliff Fletcher made major strides in the overhaul, clearing out bodies that the club no longer wanted and adding some they could build around in the future.

With a 21-year-old Kessel up front and a 24-year-old Phaneuf on defence, they have two pretty solid building blocks.

Don’t overlook Aulie, either, who is playing in the AHL this year. At 6-foot-6, 208 pounds he is obviously large and no doubt truculent and he had a good junior career, including a gold medal win with Canada at the 2009 world junior championship.

Maybe the best part of all Sunday’s business – is finally there was a trade and a major deal at that.

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