Sens Rewind: When the Ottawa Senators Acquired Dion Phaneuf, He Cost Them Next to Nothing

It's hard to believe former Ottawa Senator defenceman Dion Phaneuf has already been retired from the NHL for five years.

While Phaneuf's time in Ottawa was short and generally draws mixed reviews, he did deliver one of the biggest goals in Senators' history, burying a slapshot in overtime that prevented the Boston Bruins from grabbing a 2-0 series lead in round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

But one of the great things about Phaneuf is that he cost the Senators next to nothing.

Reaction was mixed when the Senators acquired Phaneuf from the Toronto Maple Leafs before the 2016 trade deadline. He definitely addressed a glaring need in the lineup for an experienced top four defenceman, but taking on the associated contract with a $7 million cap hit and 5+ years of term remaining for a player whose abilities seemed to be declining was a calculated risk.

So despite the bloated cap hit and uneven performance, how much did Phaneuf’s two year stopover in Ottawa really cost the Senators in terms of actual cash?

Although the five full years remaining on Phaneuf’s contract at the time of the deal amounted to $35 million against the salary cap, the front end loaded contract structure meant the remaining cash value was closer to $33 million.

Add the fact that, as part of the deal, Toronto was forced to take back about $11 million in dead cap garbage in the contracts of Jared Cowen, Colin Greening and Milan Michalek. So the net cash value for the remaining five years of Phaneuf at the time of the trade was more like $22 million.

And good luck trying to find a highlight package for the Toronto Maple Leaf careers of Cowen, Greening and/or Michalek.

Phaneuf was an integral part of Ottawa’s last big playoff run in 2016-17, but when things went off the rails for the Senators in 2017-18, the last three years of Phaneuf’s contract were traded to the Los Angeles Kings for the equally undesirable contract of Marian Gaborik, whose contract was $34 million over 7 years, a deal that ran until 2021.

As Gaborik spent the final years under contract with Ottawa on LTIR, the majority of the cash owing on the contract was paid by insurance. The portion of salary retained on Phaneuf was also reduced when the Kings eventually bought out the final two years of his contract.

The contract structures meant that Ottawa came out about $5 million ahead on a cash basis.

We can debate the effectiveness of Dion Phaneuf’s two year stint as an Ottawa Senator, but two things are certain:

1. Phaneuf anchored the second defence pairing in a year the Ottawa Senators came closer to winning the Stanley Cup than in any year since 2007.

2. From a pure net cash standpoint, he cost the Senators next to nothing.