Ottawa Senators Should Accept Phaneuf for the Player he is

As talented as Dion Phaneuf is, there has always been a distinct sense of underachievement in his NHL career. The Ottawa Senators should be aware of who he is at this point. Phaneuf has battled the perception that he has underachieved on the ice in recent years.

This might not be a fair indictment, but often players are evaluated with inconsistent scales relative to one another.

This isn’t different than other aspects of life. It seems that our perception falls victim to expectations more than it ought to.

It’s like when you walk into a movie theater about to watch a film that’s already engulfed in Oscar buzz, only to walk away as the end credits role behind you with a sense of discontentment.

“Sure the movie was good, but I expected better,” you think as you shove that last handful of popcorn into your mouth before exiting the theater.

That feeling of disappointment lingers more profoundly than the subtle contentment that brews underneath it. It was a good movie, right? Don’t hold it against the filmmakers that it got overhyped. Appreciate it in a vacuum absent of context.

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Juxtapose this feeling with the sensation of walking into a movie that you don’t expect to be very good. It ends up being way better than you anticipated, and you leave the theater in a better mood than you entered it.

Even if the first movie actually had better quality than the second, you still associate it with negativity because it failed to match expectations.

We often don’t consciously judge stimuli on an even playing field. The first movie may be way better than the second movie, but the first will always be overshadowed by the aura of underachievement, even if it achieved more than the second movie.

The reason I bring up this analogy is because after 11 seasons in the NHL, I feel like Phaneuf is like that first movie being described.

He scored 20 goals as a rookie in 2005-2006. Only Brian Leetch and Barry Beck accomplished that as rookie defenseman. Beck never equaled that total again, and neither has Phaneuf at this point.

In 2007-2008, Phaneuf scored 60 points for the Calgary Flames. He looked like a rising star. Since then, he has only topped 45 points once, and that was his 2008-2009 season of 47.

The Flames were concerned about his decrease in productivity then, and it has proven to be his highest point total since.

The talent has always been there. He has a booming slap shot and is a thunderous checker. He just peaked early for whatever reason.

He scored double digit goals in each season with the Flames. He did it just once in his 5 full seasons in Toronto and parts of two others.

He has always logged a bunch of ice time throughout his career, and combines his physicality on the ice with an impressive ability to impact both ends of the rink, even if he often gets a little too eager to land that big hit and forces teammates to have to cover for him on over-pursuits.

He was billed as the NHL’s next big star, and while he couldn’t remain an elite defenseman in this league, he has always been a solid player.

He has frustrated fans at every stop he has made in his NHL career, but that is likely a reaction more attributable to the excitement he generated as he entered the league.

Hockey Prospects rated him ahead of Sidney Crosby in both 2004 and 2005 among CHL players. He scored 20 goals in his rookie season. The point totals in his first 3 seasons in the NHL went 49, 50, 60.

Lingering injuries took their toll, and he simply never lived up to the hype that was attached to him when he came into the league.

Part of it was speculative, but those first 3 seasons in Calgary made it seem like the praise was warranted.

The tragedy about Phaneuf’s career is that frustrated fans are still judging him on the same level as a guy like Crosby, even though it’s clear now that Phaneuf isn’t a superstar. The term “bust” is a dreaded label in professional sports. It’s not just reserved for colossal objective disappointments, but also used synonymously with underachievers.

Take Reggie Bush in the NFL as an example. He was drafted 2nd overall and was the most hyped college football player in years. He has had a good, but not great, career. He has had multiple 1,000 yard rushing seasons, but was never a star player.

The harshest of observers call Bush a “bust,” but that is blatantly unfair. Last I checked, multiple 1,000 yard rushing seasons in the NFL is quite an achievement. He’s only a “bust” if you deem him one because he failed to live up to loftier expectations.

Expectations are subjective, and vary from player to player. I put Phaneuf in the same category as Reggie Bush. Nobody can look at his statistics and claim that he’s a “bust.” That label gets attached because the player didn’t end up being as great as previously assumed.

A Sports Illustrated poll from 2010 found that Phaneuf was the most overrated NHL player according to his peers. That was before the statistical decline had taken full effect, but being “overrated” is no fault of the player.

Phaneuf’s numbers indicate that he’s an above-average NHL defenseman, particularly on the offensive end. He ranked tied for 43rd in points for defenseman in 2015-2016, tied for 54th in 2014-2015, tied for 46th in 2013-2014, tied for 9th in 2012-2013, and tied for 12th in 2011-2012.

He’s not an elite defenseman anymore on offense, but he’s still worthy of being on a team’s top defensive pair.

He’s a big hitter, and while he isn’t the most fundamentally sound blue-liner on defense, he brings a lot of skills to the game.

It’s all about expectations. The sooner that people stop thinking of him as the Phaneuf from a decade ago, the sooner he can be appreciated for what he is: a great defenseman worthy of being a top option on an NHL team.

Next: Ottawa Senators Sign Chris Kelly to 1 Year Contract

The critically-acclaimed movie may not be as great as you thought it would be, but it’s still a pretty good movie all things considered. Don’t let disappointment stop you from enjoying it for what it is, or lament it for not being what you thought it would be.

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