Dion Phaneuf’s name has been mentioned as a player who could be dealt out of Toronto for the right offer. That might apply to most any player in the league, but a former Leafs assistant GM says the Edmonton Oilers may make a run at him.
Bill Watters, a former Leafs executive and currently a radio host in Toronto, told Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now the Oilers may be after the Maple Leafs captain. Jonathan Willis of the Edmonton Journal shares.
“Dion Phaneuf should be dispatched as soon as they possibly can and the story I hear is that Edmonton’s interested and if they are tell [general manager Craig MacTavish] to take him and have fun with him. I find him to be the most overrated, undernourished hockey player in the history of the NHL and whoever made him the captain of the Maple Leafs should have been fired six years ago.”
That doesn’t sound bitter at all. With that kind of endorsement, how could the Oilers resist pursuing him?
Truth here is unless the Oilers (or any team hoping to land Phaneuf) gets him signed to an extension, there won’t be much coming back in return. His contract expires after this season.