Burke called Calgary general manager Darryl Sutter and asked about Phaneuf’s availability in November. He was told, quite clearly, that the defenceman was not available.
The two general managers spoke regularly — as most GMs do — over the past months but something changed less than two weeks ago. Burke was talking to Sutter on the phone when the conversation shifted.
“He said: ‘I might move a defenceman.’ My ears perked up at that,” Burke said.
The Flames needed some scoring and some salary cap flexibility, among the many problems on their troubled team. They also needed, according to Alberta sources, to break up a dressing room rift between Phaneuf’s faction and that of Robyn Regehr. In the end, Sutter sided with Regehr rather than with Phaneuf.
The trade talks with Toronto began in earnest that day. Burke said: “If you were going to put a guy like Phaneuf in play, what would it take?” Then the Leafs did what most NHL teams do when talking trade. They provided the Flames with a list of all their signed and unsigned players, indicating which players they would consider moving and which ones they wouldn’t move.
