Dion Phaneuf working towards reunion with Maple Leafs

On Tuesday, Dion Phaneuf officially retired after a 14-season career in the NHL. He was honoured that same night at the Toronto Maple Leafs’ game in a ceremony and for the puck drop against the Nashville Predators.

Phaneuf served as captain of the Maple Leafs from 2010 to 2016 before he was traded to the Ottawa Senators in 2016. He hasn’t played in the NHL since he was bought out of the final two years of his contract by the Los Angeles Kings in 2019. Phaneuf has 137 goals and 494 points in 1,048 NHL games with the Kings, Ottawa Senators, Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames, who selected him in the first round back in 2003.

The veteran might be disappointed he never got to win the Stanley Cup - the only time in his career he moved back the first round of the postseason was in 2016 with the Senators, who lost in the Eastern Conference final in double-overtime of Game 7 to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

However, he is reportedly looking to the future and not the past, as Chris Johnston reported on last night’s Insider Trading on TSN that Phaneuf is hoping for a reunion with the Maple Leafs.

“He’s got a young family, he’s based out of Los Angeles. He told me he wants to see his daughter grow up a little bit more before he jumps into his next career. But he has job shadowed in the past with Brendan Shanahan, the Leafs president, and he does envision a post- hockey playing career somewhere in a front office and he would like to work here in Toronto if that could be worked out at some point down the line.”

Not sure if Phaneuf could be the one to push the Maple Leafs past the first round of the postseason, but he did make it there once. That’s more than this group of guys for now…