When long-time Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf first joined the Ottawa Senators, his new teammates didn’t really know what to think. “This trade for us was a bit more than hockey-related for us,” Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said in a recent interview. Not only that, Dorion says, but Phaneuf keeps the club from having to expose younger, less experienced defencemen to heavier minutes and responsibility. Among the weaker puck possession teams in the league, the Senators are outshot even a little more with Phaneuf on the ice. Hoffman was among the many Senators who despised Phaneuf from all those Battle of Ontario clashes, but the outgoing, likeable person he’s come to know since is “completely different”.

Source: National Post February 08, 2017 20:50 UTC