Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Why the Senators asked Phaneuf to waive his NMC

New York Rangers v Ottawa Senators - Game One

OTTAWA, ON - APRIL 27: Dion Phaneuf #2 of the Ottawa Senators skates with the puck against Jesper Fast #19 of the New York Rangers as Craig Anderson #41 of the Ottawa Senators looks on in the first periodin Game One of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre on April 27, 2017 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Dion Phaneuf refused to waive his no-movement clause and be exposed in the expansion draft.

That’s his right.

But for the record, here’s why the Ottawa Senators asked him to do it.

“It was explained very well to him, our request and why we were making this request,” GM Pierre Dorion said, per the Canadian Press. “It wasn’t that we felt he was our fourth best defenseman, it was the fact that we’d like to keep our top four together. At your age and salary (he told Phaneuf) the likelihood of maybe Vegas not taking you was a possibility, but who knows? Maybe Las Vegas would have taken him...

“At the same time my respect for Dion hasn’t changed, it’s still the same. I still think he’s a big part of this team and the fact that he wants to be here tells me a lot about him.”

For now, Phaneuf remains part of a top four that also includes Erik Karlsson, Cody Ceci, and Marc Methot.

The Sens will likely choose to protect seven forwards from Vegas: Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard, Mark Stone, Kyle Turris, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Zack Smith, and Alexandre Burrows.

That means Phaneuf could soon be traded to one of 12 teams he lists via his modified no-trade clause.

The alternative is trading one of Methot or Ceci, or exposing one of them in the expansion draft.

Phaneuf, 32, has four years left on his contract with a cap hit of $7 million.