Dion Phaneuf was drafted ninth overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames and completed his run in the Western Hockey League for the Red Deer Rebels in the spring of 2005.
Phaneuf was named to the CHL First All-Star team for the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons, selected from the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL. In 2004 he picked up the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy for Top Defenceman and was named to WHL East First All-Star Team. In February of 2005 The Hockey News publication named him the number two prospect in the world behind Russian Alexander Ovechkin.[citation needed]
Phaneuf represented Canada at the 2004 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Helsinki, Finland. The team won silver in a defeat to the American junior team. Phaneuf was named to the Tournament All Star Team. The following year Phaneuf returned to the 2005 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the Canadians took gold for the first time in eight years. Phaneuf was again awarded a spot on the Tournament All-Star Team, and was named Top Defenceman of the tournament.
Phaneuf made his NHL debut on the opening night of the 2005–06 NHL season for the Flames on October 5, 2005 in a 6–3 loss to Minnesota. He recorded his first point, first assist, and first goal in the October 10, 2005 game against the Colorado Avalanche.
Phaneuf earned the rookie of the month award for November as recognized by the NHL. Hockey's Future listed him as their #3 prospect behind Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby and said that he would likely win the James Norris Memorial Trophy at some point in his career. [1] On April 13, 2006 he became only the third rookie defenceman (along with Brian Leetch and Barry Beck) to score 20 goals in a season. As well, he broke the Calgary Flames' team record for goals by a rookie defenceman, which was 18 by Gary Suter.
During the All-Star break of the 2006–07 season, an informal poll of 141 NHL players conducted by ESPN named Phaneuf the hardest hitter in the NHL.[2] On January 24, 2007, Phaneuf played in the 2007 NHL All-Star Game and scored the longest empty-net goal in All-Star history (200 ft.) when he banked a shot off the boards from behind his own net and the puck rolled into the vacated Eastern net.
He was a member of the 2007 Canadian IIHF World Championship team that won gold in a 4–2 win against Finland in Moscow.
Declined an invitation to play at the IIHF World Championship for Team Canada in 2008.
Recently, he was signed to a six year contract extension with the Flames, averaging 6.5 million dollars per year.
Personal Life
It is rumoured that Phaneuf is attached to Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert, who has previously dated fellow NHLers Sean Avery and Mike Komisarek. Pictures[1] of Elisha Cuthbert and Dion vacationing in Hawaii[2] hit the internet at the beginning of May, confirming that they are a couple.
