TORONTO - For most of his Maple Leafs career he played with one partner and for most of his NHL career he played on one side. [url=http://www.diamondbacksteamshop.com/Diamondbacks-Daniel-Descalso-Ki ds-Jersey/]Daniel Descalso Jersey[/url] . Dion Phaneuf is doing neither this season. Carl Gunnarsson, l

TORONTO - For most of his Maple Leafs career he played with one partner and for most of his NHL career he played on one side. Daniel Descalso Jersey . Dion Phaneuf is doing neither this season. Carl Gunnarsson, long the Toronto captains partner on the teams top pair, was dealt to St. Louis in the summer and Phaneuf, amid that offseason of upheaval, was moved to the mostly unfamiliar left side. Thus, the Leafs are boasting a new-look top pair this season, one that includes Phaneuf on the left and Cody Franson, now in his sixth NHL season, on the right. The results thus far - and its still quite early - have been encouraging. Phaneufs even-strength possession numbers have spiked more than 10 percentage points from last season (51.5 per cent Fenwick) and those same underlying numbers look even better with Franson - Stephane Robidas started the year there before moving down the lineup. Its all helped in the Leafs slow push to becoming a better possession team. The 29-year-old Phaneuf is still squaring off against some very difficult competition - he faced the most challenging action of any defender last year - but isnt being buried as consistently in the defensive zone - up to 42 per cent offensive zone starts. Head coach, Randy Carlyle has made use of the newly added Roman Polak in the most defensive of situations - not to mention rookie Stuart Percy - thereby sparing Phaneuf from some of the heavy burden he assumed a year ago. Maple Leafs general manager, Dave Nonis, conceded on July 1st - after the team had landed Polak and then Robidas with a three-year deal in free agency - that Phaneuf could move to his strong side in the coming year and while Phaneuf concedes to an ongoing adjustment, he believes its been overblown some in the early weeks this fall. He spoke to TSN.ca about those challenges and the differences of playing with a new partner this season. SIEGEL: New partner, new side, whats been more difficult in terms of that adjustment? PHANEUF: To be completely honest with you, I think its been a good adjustment. It was a little bit different earlier in training camp shifting to the left side; that was a little bit of an adjustment early in camp. But now I feel very comfortable. Its something that I feel thats there more attention paid to than there should be, because the reality of it is that, yeah, Im playing a different side, but Ive played there before and I feel very comfortable there now. SIEGEL: Well, I guess the argument goes that you played the right your whole career or most of your career, [defensive] routes are different, you see the ice differently, it should be difficult… PHANEUF: Yeah, I havent found it difficult to switch. It was an adjustment early in camp. But as soon as I got through the first few exhibition games Ive felt more comfortable game after game. But now Im used to playing that side now. Now if I go back to the other side it feels a little bit different. SIEGEL: Really? PHANEUF: Yeah, so Im comfortable playing that side. And then when you have a new partner theres always an adjustment period, but I feel that me and Franny have built some real good chemistry early. Frannys a guy who sees the ice really well, he moves the puck really well and hes a big guy. Ive really enjoyed playing with him. We want to keep building. Partnerships and being defensive partners, theres lots that go into it; you want to communicate; you want to know each others tendencies and were still learning that. But overall, I feel really good about how weve played together and how were working on getting better together every day. SIEGEL: Well, you had said in camp that you just wanted to build those reps. Ive got all the game-logs and you played with Gunnarsson almost exclusively from the time you got here, you cant really replicate that experience… PHANEUF: Whether youre a forward or defenceman, a forward line that has played together a long time or a defensive pairing thats played together a long time, you have a lot of chemistry. You know what youre partner is going to do, where hes going to be, you read off each other - thats a big thing too is reading off of each other - where you want to support the guy, how you can support him, how he can support you. And I feel that me and Franny are working on that stuff. It is a process, but I feel that theres been a lot of positives early. SIEGEL: Overall, can you feel that youre spending less time in your own end, because the numbers suggest that? [Pause] PHANEUF: When you have a new partner and youre adjusting to playing with someone else its about playing and feeling as comfortable as you as quick as you can. I feel that weve done that. We obviously want to keep working on it, but I feel weve done lots of good things. Frannys a guy who talks a lot, he moves the puck very well, its been great playing with him. SIEGEL: Just going back to camp and the adjustment [to the left side], was it more [difficult] defensively or seeing the ice? PHANEUF: The two biggest adjustments were one, when youre moving the puck and youre breaking the puck out there is more of an advantage when youre playing your strong side because its always on your forehand. I found that part of it a positive. The other big adjustment, as a d-man, youve got shutdown areas on the ice where you like to focus on pinching guys off and angles and different spots that youre used to going to and that was an adjustment switching from one side to the other. And seeing and receiving rushes was a little bit different on the left side. SIEGEL: Its backwards right? PHANEUF: Yeah, its completely opposite, but that was early in camp and I feel really comfortable now on the left side. Jarrod Dyson Jersey . The weekend at Oriole Park has been less kind, with three players suffering varying degrees of injury. The worst ailment of the three, at least optically, is the deep bone bruise suffered by Adam Lind when he fouled a pitch off the top of his right foot in the sixth inning of Saturdays game. Jake Lamb Jersey . "If we only consider this season," Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said, "there is just one club in Manchester -- and its ours. http://www.diamondbacksteamshop.com/Diamondbacks-Andrew-Chafin-Kids-Jersey/ . Knapp defeated American Alison Riske 6-3, 7-5 to secure Italys victory in the best-of-five series. She held a 5-2 lead in the second set, only to let Riske tie it at five.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Toronto Blue Jays will try to figure out the Kansas City Royals on Saturday when the two teams meet at Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays hope to follow the lead of prospect Marcus Stroman, making the first start of his Major League career, pushing Drew Hutchison back to Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers. Stroman, a 23-year-old righty, struggled in five relief appearances with the Blue Jays earlier this month, giving up nine earned runs over 6 1/3 innings while opponents hit .419 against him. In seven starts at Triple-A Buffalo this year, Stroman has gone 2-4 with a 3.03 ERA. "We want to get Stroman up here to give him a look," Gibbons told his teams official website. "And the thinking was, well back Hutchison off a couple of days. (Mark) Buehrle will start Sunday, Hutchison on Tuesday in Detroit. Weve been trying to pick some spots, give Hutch a little breather. After his last start, I thought he looked a little bit tired. We thought it would be a perfect time to give him a couple of extra days." Hutchison gave up five earned runs over five innings in his last start on Monday versus Tampa Bay. Kansas City took the first two contests of this four-game set with an 8-6 win in extra innings on Thursday and a 6-1 victory on Friday night. Lorenzo Cain nearly single-handedly led the Royals to victory on Friday, going 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBBI. Shelby Miller Jersey. Billy Butler also went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Alex Gordon blasted his fourth home run of the season as well. "This is more of the offense that we envisioned coming out of spring training," Royals manager Ned Yost said. Jason Vargas earned his fifth win of the season as the starter, limiting the Blue Jays to just one run, while matching seven hits with as many strikeouts. "Vargas keeps you off-balance," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "If youre sitting on a pitch, you dont get it." Jose Bautista provided the only offense for the Blue Jays with his 14th home run of the season. J.A. Happ took the loss, laboring through 7 2/3 innings during which he gave up six runs on nine hits. Toronto has dropped back-to-back games after winning nine straight contests. Kansas City will turn to Aaron Brooks on Saturday. Brooks will be making his first MLB start, having just a single relief appearance to his name this season, his first in the majors. In his only other outing the 24-year-old let up six runs on seven hits over two innings during a 9-2 loss to Detroit on May 3. Brooks, who was drafted in the ninth round of the 2011 amateur draft out of Cal State San Bernardino, was 4-1 with a 3.12 ERA in eight games for Triple-A Omaha this season. The Royals have won three of the first five games between these teams this season. 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