Total intensity defines Calgary’s Phaneuf

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2006

By Lucas Aykroyd

Esa Tikkanen and Brett Hull are examples of NHLers who played hard on the ice but exhibited a light-hearted attitude when they took off their skates. However, Dion Phaneuf definitely doesn’t fit that mold.

In his second NHL season, the 21-year-old defenseman conducts himself more like a hardened 31-year-old veteran, on and off the ice. He speaks in a flat monotone with the media, and his eyes are focused elsewhere: on the next game, the next slapshot goal, the next victim for one of his huge bodychecks. (His October 12 hit on Denis Hamel sent the Ottawa forward head over heels, and will make a lot of highlight reels at the end of the year.)

“We’re taking steps in the right direction now,” Phaneuf said of his Calgary Flames, who had a slow start before putting together their first winning streak of the season in November. “The past is in the past. We have to keep moving forward.”

Phaneuf likely would have captured the Calder Trophy as the 2006 NHL Rookie of the Year if he hadn’t been overshadowed by the brilliance of Sidney Crosby and eventual winner Alexander Ovechkin. He scored 20 goals (17 on the power play), just the third rookie blueliner in NHL history to hit that milestone after Barry Beck and Brian Leetch.

In October, controversial Hockey Night in Canada commentator Don Cherry argued that the 188-cm, 92-kg Edmonton native should have won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, based on his all-around game and physical presence.

“It’s very nice to hear, especially from a great hockey guy who’s been around the game for so long,” said Phaneuf. “Right now I’m just worried about improving every day.”

The #9 overall pick in the 2003 NHL Draft models himself on former New Jersey captain Scott Stevens, and although he never got to play with or against his hard-hitting idol, he’s happy to be paired with Roman Hamrlik on the Calgary blueline.

“I’m trying to learn as much as I can from him,” Phaneuf said of the 32-year-old Czech. “He’s a very skilled guy, and he’s done a great job at being a top-end defenseman in the league for 14 years. It’s nice to be able to play with a guy like that.”

Both Phaneuf and Hamrlik eat up around 25 minutes per game, even with other solid veterans like Robyn Regehr and Rhett Warrener available.

Regehr was the center of attention recently after a punishing hit he threw on Steve Downey put the Montreal forward out of action with a concussion. Similar incidents affecting Columbus’s Trevor Letowski and Detroit’s Jason Williams have reignited the debate on whether the NHL should ban hits to the head.

Phaneuf, who knocked Czech forward Rostislav Olesz out of the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championship in Helsinki, takes a traditional view on shoulder-to-cranium contact.

“I think elbows to the head are not something guys want in hockey. But when it comes to clean hits, they haven’t taken that out of the game with the new rules. It’s part of the game and you have to play that way to be successful.”

There’s a clear message to opponents: “Stay out of my way!” Playing for the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels, Phaneuf developed his approach under one of the toughest coaches in junior hockey, former NHL star Brent Sutter, who achieved 12 straight wins and two World Junior gold medals with Canada in 2005 and 2006.

“He’s a very wise hockey man, and he taught me a lot in the four years of junior I played under him,” said Phaneuf. “I can’t say enough about how much I learned from him and the organization in Red Deer.”

Judging by his early success, Dion Phaneuf learned so much that he’ll likely win more than one Norris Trophy before his career is over. He is the complete package.