NHL: Three Teams that Would Benefit from Acquring Tomas Kaberle

Brian Burke stated that he will turn on the heat on the whole Kaberle thing in August.

Brian Burke has until August 15th to trade the D-Man and it is no secret anymore that Burke clearly wants a top six forward, or else he'll have no problem keeping him.

There are probably many teams in the NHL that would love Kaberle, but these three teams that I will state would benefit from having the "Quarter-Back" more then any other team in the league

Dallas Stars

Defensemen Under Contract—Trevor Daley ($2.3M), Stephane Robidas ($1.5M), Karlis Skrastins ($1.3M), Mark Fistric ($1.0M), Nicklas Grossman ($0.9M), Matt Niskanen ($0.8M), Jeff Woywitka ($0.6M), Philip Larsen ($0.4M)

Cap Space—8.629M

By looking at the eight defenseman Dallas has under contract, adding Tomas Kaberle to that list would be a massive upgrade.

Throw in the fact that Marty Turco isn't returning to Dallas, the Stars are in serious need of some help on the back end.

Dallas currently has just over eight million dollars in cap space and they still need to look to try and re-sign James Neal, along with Niklas Grossman, and Matt Niskanen.

The Stars have a pretty good top six and a decent top three lines.

Brad Richards, Jiri Lehtinen, Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro, Loui Eriksson, Jamie Benn, and Steve Ott are all pretty good forwards, especially Eriksson, who is only 23 and Jamie Benn who is 19 and had a solid rookie season.

Throw in a couple of top prospects the Stars have in Scott Glennie and Alex Chiasson, who both play the wing, it may allow Dallas some flexibility in sacrificing a player like James Neal for a someone that would fill a role that the Stars currently desperately need.

I assume if a James Neal-Tomas Kaberle deal were to go down, there would be more players involved.

However, James Neal surely will be looking for a raise and a large one at that, so if Dallas were to deal him for Kaberle, I don't think they would be losing much money in cap space, if at all.

Dallas do have the option to sign James Neal but it would likely leave them with around Four million dollars in cap space, and they would still be a mess in the back end.

For Toronto, it's simple. T

The development of Carl Gunnarsson and Luke Schenn will allow Brian Burke to make it a little easier for him to move Kaberle. Not to mention the trade that brought in Dion Phaneuf, and the signings of Mike Komisarek, Francois Beachuemin, and Nick Lebda.

The Leafs benefit by getting a top six forward in James Neal, of course.

Dallas might also be interested in parting ways with Mike Ribeiro.

This deal would also make sense because it wouldn't massively hurt either team financially. Again, Dallas picks up a puck-moving defensemen and Toronto gets their number one center to play with, Phil Kessel.

Washington Capitals

Defensemen Under Contract—Mike Green ($5.0M), Tom Poti ($3.5M), John Carlson ($0.2M), Shaone Morrisonn ($1.9M), John Erskine ($1.2M), Milan Jurcina ($0.9M), Jeff Schultz ($0.7M), Tyler Sloan ($0.6M), and Joe Corvo ($0.5M)

The Washington Capitals were the team to beat heading into the postseason, winning the presidents trophy and finishing first place among all NHL teams prior to the 2010 NHL Playoffs.

However, they were stunned by the Montreal Canadians and saw an early exit to the post-season. Looking back, it was evident that the main reason why Washington collapsed was because of their defense, goaltending, and Alexander Semin.

Now, it's no secret that the Washington Capitals are the best offensive team in the NHL. They have three solid lines who can score goals.

However, they have only $3M of cap space available, which may bring up problems for next season seeing as Semyon Varlamov is an RFA, and Brooks Laich, along with Alexander Semin, are UFA's.

Semin will be making $6M next season and will surely ask for that same price if the Capitals want to keep him. But if they sign Semin, I don't see how they will be able to keep Varlamov and Laich.

So that brings me to a Alexander Semin-Tomas Kaberle deal. Semin for Kaberle straight up will never happen, I don't think Washington is that stupid.

However, if the Leafs throw a couple of solid prospects, it may work out.

Toronto itself only has about $3M available, but assuming that Grabovski gets traded or leaves Toronto, plus J.S. Giguere likely leaving at the end of next season, frees up a lot of room for Toronto.

Let's say Washington trades Semin to Toronto for Kaberle and a couple of really good prospects.

Washington will surely save cap space either way, and if Kaberle then re-signs with the Caps (and why wouldn't he) Washington will still probably save at least $2M if not more, allowing them to re-sign Varlamov.

And again, the Leafs get a top six forward, and Washington gets help on the back end.

Buffalo Sabres

Current Defense-Man Under Contract—Craig Rivet ($3.5M), Andrej Sekera ($1.0M), Steve Montador (1.5M), Tyler Myers ($1.3M), and Chris Butler ($0.8M)

The Buffalo Sabres defense could use some work, and Tomas Kaberle would be that player who largely helps Buffalo immediately.

Buffalo also has some offensive aspects that would appeal to Toronto.

Tim Connolly could be the top center that Toronto has been searching for, or it could be Derek Roy.

Buffalo has Paul Gaustad, Jochen Hecht, Tim Connolly, and Derek Roy, all who play center.

Plus they have Nathan Gerbe, who is only 21 and should be seeing more time in the NHL as he grows older.

A Tim Conolly-Tomas Kaberle trade would make sense because first of all it wouldn't effect either teams cap space seeing as they both have a very similar paycheck.

Buffalo would love Kaberle, he would be the perfect mentor to Rookie of the year 2010 Tyler Myers and would boost the offense on the power-play.

Toronto would get Tim Connolly and their number one center.