Maple Leafs Trade Dion Phaneuf To Senators In Nine-Player Blockbuster

It finally happened: The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded Dion Phaneuf.

After being the subject of trade rumors seemingly his entire time with the Leafs, the defenseman was traded Tuesday to the Ottawa Senators in a nine-player trade.

Here’s a full breakdown of the players and the draft pick involved.

Senators acquire:
D Dion Phaneuf
F Matt Frattin
F Casey Bailey
F Ryan Rupert
D Cody Donaghey

Maple Leafs acquire:
D Jared Cowen
F Colin Greening
F Milan Michalek
F Tobias Lindberg
2017 second-round draft pick

It’s obviously a huge deal for both teams, but especially for Toronto, which is in the rebuilding process. Unloading Phaneuf frees the Leafs from his enormous contract, which comes with a $7 million salary-cap hit through the 2020-21 season. ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun reported that Ottawa would take on all of Phaneuf’s hefty salary, which the Senators confirmed in their announcement of the deal.

According to General Fanager, the Leafs currently have nine pending unrestricted free agents and six pending restricted free agents, meaning they’ll have plenty of money to play with this summer.

Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images