I wasn't going to bother including Phaneuf in this series, but some stuff has come to light recently that begs to be shared. That and, well...Im having a hard time coming up with anything else to write about right now.
First off, Tyler over at MC79 explodes the myth that Phanuef doesn't see the tough match-ups. From Tylers chart, you can see that Dion spent a great deal of time against a lot of the big boys last year. And while he didn't exactly fare well (17 ES GF, 24 ES GA "star events"), no one else on the team really did either (except Regehr, naturally).
Of course, no one else on the team had to put up with Anders Eriksson as much. That's a drum I've been banging since the middle of last season, mostly on the strength of what I saw night in and night out. Luckily, I stumbled across some supporting evidence recently. Over at hockey analysis they have each players GF/GA with/without teammates. If you take a gander at Phaneuf's numbers, you'll see that he spent 611 ES minutes with Anders last year (more than any other partner):
Together, the duo allowed 33 ES goals, for a horrid 1.079 GA/20 rate (or 3.237 GA/60). Now, take a look at Phaneuf away from Bubba - his rate plunges down to 0.577 GA/20 (1.731) in 901 minutes of work. That's what I would call a significant effect. Turns out that Eriksson was a fairly deserving punching bag (you'll notice his GA/20 rate away from Phaneuf is still a terrible 0.948).
What's odd from a coaching perspective is how rarely Dion played with his other partners last season - Aucoin and Vandermeer - despite how much better those pairings fared (0.645 GA/20, 0.482 GA/40 in 434 and 207 minutes of ice, respectively). I mean, I caught the difference with my bare eye (and railed against the Eriksson/Phaneuf "chaos pairing" throughout the season constantly) and Im just a schmo watching games from his couch. How the hell did Keenan miss it? Or, if he didn't, what was he trying to accomplish with that pairing? Granted, they scored at a decent rate (1.014 GF/20), but that still leaves them under water. And, in fact, Aucoin/Phaneuf scored at a superior rate anyhow (1.244 GF/20).
Given that he played against the big boys last year AND dragged around a broken piano most nights, I think I can now confidently say:
1.) Phaneuf is ready to take the next step and play against the big boys routinely.
2.) Phaneuf could probably do so well with a capable partner.
As such, and I've suggested this before, I'd like to see Dion skate with Regehr at even-strength next year. That duo could play behind Iginla (who will probably have to take the tough match-ups) and keep their heads above water. Should that occur, I think we'll see "the leap" - when Dion goes from very good to elite - happen in 08/09.
