Dion Phaneuf Trying to Elevate the Collapsing Leafs

On Wednesday, Phaneuf seemed intent on picking a fight. He gave Senators forward Milan Michalek a little slash in the corner, then gave him a shove. And then he appeared to kick the feet out from under his opponent, which might warrant a second look from the NHL Department of Player Safety.

And then he dropped his gloves.

“Nobody’s helping him,” retired NHL forward Jeremy Roenick said during an interview on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Wednesday. “Nobody’s helping him at all.”

The host raised the suggestion that, if nobody is helping the captain of the team, it might mean they do not listen to the captain, or that he might not be the right choice, as captain.

“I 100% agree with you,” Roenick told the host. “One hundred percent agree.”

The question was raised: Could a team move the captaincy to someone else?

“My question comes to you, if Dion Phaneuf loses the captaincy, who do you put the ‘C’ on right now?” Roenick asked. “That’s a problem in itself. If you can’t pick somebody on that team that would deserve that captaincy, then that’s a problem.”