"The look of disappointment on Dion Phaneuf's face after another Leaf loss kind of summed up what kind of season it has been so far.

One goal and six assists after 22 games — even factoring in the 16 he missed due to injury — is not the kind of year the Leaf captain envisioned for himself. The defenceman once scored 20 with Calgary, and privately set a bar at near 15 goals for himself at training camp.

"I can't speak for the other guys, but personally, yeah, you want to put up numbers, you want to produce," said Phaneuf. "But right now, it's just the way things go. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't.""