TORONTO - All the former captains of the Maple Leafs get a spot on the wall of the team's practice facility in the Etobicoke neighbourhood of Toronto.

One day, when his NHL career is over, Dion Phaneuf will join that group. Traded to Ottawa early last month, Phaneuf made his much-anticipated return to Toronto on Saturday evening. He was greeted to a mostly warm reception.

The Leafs thanked Phaneuf for his 423 games of service with a video tribute during the first TV timeout. Fans responded with a standing ovation. Phaneuf saluted the crowd in acknowledgment and was then overwhelmed with emotion on the Ottawa bench, splashing water in his face to hold back the tears.

"It was very classy by them and I can't thank them enough," Phaneuf said of the reception after the Senators 3-2 win, describing it as perfect closure.

The victory was much-needed for the Senators, now five points back of the Penguins for the final wild-card spot in the East.

Phaneuf said he felt like a kid again facing his old team, consumed with nervous energy. He bobbled the puck right off the opening faceoff, was overcome by emotion after the tribute and then sought to insert himself into the action by fighting Colin Greening, among those he was traded for in the nine-player swap between the Leafs and Senators.

"I kind of dialled in and I said 'I've got to be better than I was for this team'," said Phaneuf, who played nearly 22 minutes and finished with four shots. "They deserve better than the way I started."

Toronto struggled during Phaneuf's six-year tenure, missing the playoffs in all but one season. Phaneuf, as the team's captain, absorbed a heavy amount of criticism. But according to teammates, coaches and management, he was a solid source of leadership, someone who put in the necessary work and demanded as much from teammates.

Phaneuf made a point, in particular, of guiding 25-year-old Jake Gardiner and 21-year-old Morgan Rielly.

"Rielly and Gardiner love him and why would they love him?" Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said Saturday morning. "Well, they love him because he looked after them and he took the heat off them. Rielly and Gardiner never got much heat, he got the heat."

Later, Babcock noted how Phaneuf shielded teammates by "taking the brunt of a lot of negativity".

"He takes it on himself to be a positive influence on his teammates," Rielly said, "and I think he'll do that (in Ottawa)."

It was leadership and experience that the Senators sought when they dealt three players, a prospect and a second round pick to Toronto for Phaneuf early last month. Ottawa coach Dave Cameron even named him one of two alternate captains for the Saturday affair, doing so, he said, because of Phaneuf's obvious leadership abilities.

"He has an element that maybe we didn't have before we got him," Senators forward Mark Stone said.

Nine of the 20 players to dress for the Leafs on Saturday never played with Phaneuf, indicative of the dramatic roster turnover in Toronto, which saw six players dealt ahead of the Feb. 29 trade deadline.

Phaneuf met some of those remaining teammates for dinner on Friday night, a rare instance, he said, of visiting with the opponent before a game.

Among that group, Kadri said he's had trouble adjusting to Phaneuf in the red and black of the Senators. He was jarred when he turned on the television and saw Phaneuf speaking to media in an Ottawa ballcap.

"It just doesn't sit too well with me yet," said Kadri, who played the entirety of his NHL career with Phaneuf prior to the trade.

Phaneuf says the adjustment to being a Senator has gone just fine, his new teammates willingly embracing a former rival. He described himself as "all in" from the minute he joined the club in Detroit for his first game last month.

Still, Phaneuf found it strange to be in the visitors dressing room at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday morning and admitted to mixed emotions coming back.

"Obviously I'll have time to sit back and reflect on my time (in Toronto), but I enjoyed every minute of it," he said. "They treated me very well in my time here. But that chapter is over now. And now I'm the enemy. I'm an Ottawa Senator and I'm really happy about it."

The Leafs went two seasons without a captain before Phaneuf was named to the role in the summer of 2010. The club left the captaincy vacant in Phaneuf's absence and has no apparent plans for naming a replacement anytime soon.

"I think in the end when it becomes obvious to us who the next captain is that's when it'll be," Babcock said.

For the last Toronto captain Saturday marked the official closing of a chapter.

"It's a night I'll remember forever," Phaneuf said, "and for me, it's a pretty good way to go out."

News from © The Canadian Press, 2016