Acquired from Toronto in arguably the NHL's most surprising trade this season, the Ottawa Senators defenseman and former Maple Leafs captain will be keeping the "A" he's worn on his jersey over the last two games, head coach Dave Cameron said.
After assistant captain Kyle Turris went down to injury, defenseman Matt Borowiecki took the letter. Borowiecki was lost last week to a torn MCL, and Phaneuf had the "A" in his return to Toronto on Saturday for the first time since the trade.
"You put it on somebody that is a leader. I knew what he was as a player," Cameron said, according to the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch. "I didn't know his personality because I've never spent any time with him."
Cameron's been impressed with Phaneuf in a short time.
"The pleasant surprise for me is his personality. He's here, he comes into the rink every day and you know he's happy to be in the NHL. He has energy, he's engaging, he talks. There's no moping, and that's been missing somewhat with our young team as we've been bouncing up and down. This guy comes in every day, does his work, does it in good humor and brings other guys along."
Phaneuf has a goal and six assists in 13 games with the Senators, while averaging almost 24 minutes of ice time. He has a 49.1 Corsi For rating, down from 52.1 with Toronto, according to Hockey Reference.
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ANAHEIM, Calif. - T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom scored in the shootout, and the Washington Capitals stopped the Anaheim Ducks' franchise-best winning streak at 11 games with 2-1 victory Monday night in a meeting of regular-season heavyweights...
Carter and Vincent Lecavalier scored 39 seconds apart midway through the third, and then Carter added an empty-netter for his 300th. Jonathan Quick made 21 saves to help the Kings climb within a point of Pacific Division-leading Anaheim, which lost 2-1 to Washington in a shootout.
The Kings led the Ducks by 16 points on Jan. 20 but fell out of first place with a 3-2 loss to the Ducks on Saturday.
Defenseman Dan Hamhuis scored for Vancouver and Ryan Miller stopped 24 shots.
CALGARY - Don't mind Martin Jones if he catches a bit of sleep on the post-game flight from Calgary to Edmonton.
The San Jose goaltender made a career-high 47 saves Monday night and Joe Pavelski scored the overtime winner as the Sharks beat t...
The Washington Capitals needed a shootout to get by the Anaheim Ducks in a sneak peek of what could be this season's Stanley Cup Final on Monday.
Nicklas Backstrom had the shootout winner, while Braden Holtby turned away two of three shooters as the Capitals extinguished the Ducks 11-game win streak.
The @AnaheimDucks extended their point streak to 14 games (12-0-2), two shy of the longest such run in club history set in 2006-07 (12-0-4)
John Gibson was nearly perfect turning away 31 of 32 shots in a losing effort. The loss snapped his four-game win-streak.
Meanwhile in the Capitals' crease, Holtby collected win No. 41 on the season, matching a franchise record shared with Olaf Kolzig who did so during the 1999-00 season.
.@kbieksa3: "It was a good game. We played against the best team in the East and played well. Sometimes, you need to tip your cap."
ANAHEIM, Calif. - T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom scored in the shootout, and the Washington Capitals stopped the Anaheim Ducks' franchise-best winning streak at 11 games with 2-1 victory Monday night in a meeting of regular-season heavyweights...
DENVER - Semyon Varlamov came back to form when the Colorado Avalanche needed it most.
Varlamov had 37 saves in his return to the crease, Matt Duchene and Mikhail Grigorenko had a goal and an assist each and the Avalanche beat the Arizona Coy...
SUNRISE, Fla. - Lee Stempniak is fitting in nicely with his new team.
Stempniak scored his first goal as a Bruin in overtime and Boston beat Florida 5-4 on Monday night.
Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr moved into third on the NHL career poin...