Early on in Trade Deadline day, the Detroit Red Wings were talking extensively to the Toronto Maple Leafs about making a blockbuster trade. It was centered around Dion Phaneuf going to the Red Wings, however nobody knows what Toronto wanted in return. Multiple rumors and sources mentioned Brendan Smith, the Red Wing's young back line defenseman, however Toronto also reportedly likes young prospects Anthony Mantha, Tomas Tatar, and Gustav Nyquist.
The reported deal that seemed to make the most sense from the Leafs' perspective of what they were asking for was Brendan Smith and Anthony Mantha, plus other minor pieces potentially, for Dion Phaneuf and about a quarter of his AAV eaten up by the Leafs.
Nick Kypreos adds that Phaneuf is still trying to get over not being traded, which is normally the opposite. Most players like the security and staying where they are at, however due to the losing culture in Toronto at the current time, Phaneuf would have liked to been traded to a team that is now about to likely clinch their 24th straight playoff birth. He also added that Phaneuf knows he is not going to be the captain next year, and he likely won't be a Maple Leaf next year and he knows that, but Kypreos is okay with how he has handled himself despite all the losing since the deadline.
According to NBCSports, there is still a decent chance this move might happen. Even though the Red Wings found the right man for this year in Marek Zidlicky, Zidlicky is currently 38 years old and close to retirement. The Wings could believe that Phaneuf is an upgrade over other defenseman such as Jakub Kindl, Kyle Quincey, or even Brendan Smith, and still want to work out the deal during the summer. According to one league executive, the talks likely became too big to perform in a short time frame, and they were not moving fast enough to get done before the deadline, so Detroit went after Zidlicky, a deal they ended up getting done quite quickly instead.
These two teams will likely have many more talks before they face each other six more times next season as division rivals, however how far those talks end up becoming will have to be determined later.