Phaneuf's challenge as Maple Leafs captain
Dion Phaneuf is a loud man at a position often best served by subtlety.
The newest captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs was awarded that distinction based partially on a generally brash approach to life, whether it's his frequent attempts to tattoo his shoulder crest on opponents' foreheads or just having the internal jam to play DJ Dion in the dressing room immediately upon landing in Leafland.
Put simply, there's no doubt Phaneuf has the big things taken care of; it's sorting out the small stuff that will determine whether he rounds out into a great all-around defenseman or remains a more one-dimensional threat known mostly for making a large racket here and there.
Everybody who's watched Phaneuf closely knows he needs to clean up his game defensively and, really, that's not a tremendous indictment of a 25-year-old's game. Leaf fans will lose their mind every time Phaneuf flattens somebody next season, but the more legitimate cause for celebration will be harder to spot.
It will be when he backs off at the offensive blueline instead of putting himself out of position by charging after the winger who just chipped the puck past him on the boards. It will be when he takes a little off that booming shot to make sure it gets through or finds a teammate's tip-ready stick instead of dropping his head and trying to shoot a hole through the net.
Phaneuf knows how to let it all hang out; now he's got to work on reeling it in a bit.
And make no mistake, that's a much more preferable scenario to the inverse of that sentence. Every coach and GM in the league will tell you they'd rather be trying to tuck in an abundance of aggression than feeling like a stranded camper, always trying to light a fire under something.
Toronto boss Brian Burke knew what he was getting in Phaneuf and, I suspect, understands in general that you don't go to a Bob Dylan concert and expect to see him strut around on stage like Mick Jagger; you know what kind of performance you're getting when you buy the ticket.
The ability to learn and adjust is crucial to success in any field, but that said, people come hard-wired a certain way and Phaneuf's got a major "go for it" gene driving the bus in that imposing frame.
There's nothing wrong — and a lot right — with that fact. But if the Leafs' new captain wants a tenure similar to that of the 10-year run of Mats Sundin, he needs to learn even the toughest players recognize the right time for a soft touch.
Ryan Dixon is a writer and copy editor for The Hockey News magazine, the co-author of the book Hockey's Young Guns and a regular contributor to THN.com. His blog appears Thursdays and his column, Top Shelf, appears Wednesdays.
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