EL SEGUNDO – Kings general manager Rob Blake referred to defenseman Dion Phaneuf as a “high-character” individual when he acquired him via trade from Ottawa in mid-February. He’s a character, all right.

“Oh, God, that guy? Quick, before he gets here,” fellow defenseman and teammate Alec Martinez said following practice Monday, when asked to talk about Phaneuf and what Coach John Stevens refers to as his “infectious” personality.

Martinez was laughing.

“Dion’s been awesome for us both on and off the ice,” said Martinez, whose team takes on Vegas on Wednesday night at 7 in Game 1 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “Yes, infectious is right. No, I mean, he’s been awesome for us. You need guys in the locker room like that. He’s always running his mouth and either keeping guys honest, or he takes a lot of heat, too.

“He brings a lot of energy to the room. He’s serious when we need to be and he says the right things. But he also does a good job of recognizing when a joke needs to be told, or just something to get the energy up.”

Apparently, he also likes giving teammates the business.

“He’s a good team guy,” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “He annoys the (expletive) out of me. Yeah, he’s always on me about everything. But he’s a great team guy, loud and he’s a good pro.”

Stevens hasn’t been able to heap enough praise on Phaneuf since he joined the team nearly two months ago. Besides his defense and some timely offense, Phaneuf has shown toughness as he has no problem dropping the gloves.

But it’s the personality thing that seems to really stir up Stevens.

“I keep using the term that he’s emotionally invested every time he comes to the rink,” Stevens said. “He loves being at the rink, he loves practice, he’s excited about practice, likes being with the guys. When he got traded here he was excited that we were on the road for a while so he could get a chance to know the guys.

“And he just brings a personality to the rink that’s real. There’s no fabrication to what he’s trying to create. He’s not trying to be a loud guy and it’s not sincere. That’s who he is.”

Even in tired times.

“Get off the bus at 2 o’clock in the morning when you just traveled and he’s the voice you hear and he’s thanking the bus driver and he’s on his way to his room,” Stevens said. “So he’s got a very engaging personality that I think brings life to the group. And I think in hockey it’s really important that you talk.”

Phaneuf talks a lot on the ice, Stevens said. He calls for the puck, he talks about ongoing action. That’s Phaneuf – personable, tireless, dedicated.

“To be honest with you, I’ve had this personality and it’s just the way that I am,” said Phaneuf, who said he loves the “camaraderie with the guys.”

Phaneuf praised his teammates for making his transition easy when the trade was made and, perhaps, for allowing him to be himself.

“When you feel comfortable, you’re better at what you do,” Phaneuf said. “You come to a new group and you want to contribute in any way that you can and that’s what I try to do.

“My personality, when I come to the rink, I like to enjoy myself, I like to work. I enjoy it. I enjoy the challenge of it. And how lucky are we? We get to play a game and we make a very good living doing it.”

One minute with Phaneuf, and it’s obvious this is indeed someone with a high level of charisma.

“There’s two ways of looking at it,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what line of work you’re in. If you come in, you look at things in either a positive way or negative way. Where I try to come in, I come to work every day. Not every day is a positive day in the sense that your’e not going to win every game.

“But what you can control is your work ethic, you can control your attitude and I’m a big believer of, you come to the rink, you do your job, you put the work in and your results will come.”

Phaneuf said his junior league coach, Brent Sutter of the Red Deer Rebels, taught him how to act like a pro at a young age.

“I remember vividly him saying, ‘I run this organization as close to a professional organization as I can. I’m going to treat you guys as if you’re professionals, and you’re going to learn from it,'” said Phaneuf, a three-time All-Star with six goals and 20 assists this season – three and seven with the Kings.

Credit his parents – Paul and Amber – with a different kind of assist.

“My mom was always in figure skating and, really, she was the one who taught me how to stake,” said Phaneuf, of Edmonton. “But, really, it started with my dad because my dad put in all the effort of putting in a backyard rink when I was 3 years old.”

Thirty years later, he’s still leaving quite an impression on everyone around him.