jvaccaro6 wrote:
Anybody who thinks that Toronto made out on this deal is either watching Phaneuf from 3 years ago, or is just seeing something I'm not.
What they picked up was, 6.5M worth of defensive man, that quite frankly has turned into Wade Redden (scores points, but no longer physical) a 6M back up goalie, to mentor a guy who is 26 years old, and has more holes than an overpopulated whore house, and some 6'6" 4th round pick, who many experts say is a crap shoot at best.
An awful lot of gambling in a "hockey city" like Toronto, where the fans want wins, and want them now.
Oh yeah, not to mention you trade away, Ian White, one of the best young offensive defensive men in the game, Jason Blake, a strong player eveytime he's on the ice. Matt Stajan, your best player night in and night out. Nick Hagman, another 40-50 point per year guy. Jamal Mayers, your only true veteran grit player.
Brian Burke didn't come out ahead on this deal. He got 1 decent player, and a hand full of crap shoots.
you cant build around hagman and stajan. you can build around neon dion. dion is young enough to have a bad season, and its very very possible, no, probable, that the change of scenery is all he needed.
hagman and stajan are secondary players. they are good to have if you have the pieces in place, they could help calgary go very deep come april and may. dont forget about bertuzzi, who went to vancouver under burke, and turned into a beast after being thrown out of long island. its very likely toronto is exactly what dion needed, and dion is exactly what toronto needed. not to mention, this trade could also help schenn blossom.