Music: {allcanada} Phaneuf to play with Polak?

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

{allcanada} Phaneuf to play with Polak?

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In talking about defenseman Roman Polak, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle dropped the following little nugget of information in a recent phone conversation:

"We see him [Polak] possibly with an opportunity to play with Phaneuf and chew some minutes against some other team's top lines," Carlyle said.

Polak is a righty who plays the right side. If he plays with Phaneuf, that means Phaneuf will have to move to the left side. Phaneuf is a lefty who had been playing on the right side with Carl Gunnarsson, who was traded to the Blues for Polak, mainly because of the Maple Leafs' formerly imbalanced defense corps.

However, with three righties (Polak, Cody Franson and Stephane Robidas) and three lefties (Phaneuf, Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly), it seems reasonable for Phaneuf to move to his natural side.

Carlyle likes the idea of pairing Polak with Phaneuf because they're both big, mobile, experienced defensemen. He sees it as a similar pair to what the St. Louis Blues had with Polak and Barret Jackman.

"He can play strong, defensive minutes both in 5-on-5 and penalty killing," Carlyle said of Polak. "We looked at the addition of him as adding a bigger, stronger body back there. He brings competitiveness and is a little stiffer on the back end. He's played against the top lines in the League, and he's been paired up a lot of the time with Barret Jackman."

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