Tomas Kaberle is not on the Move from Toronto

Late last week Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke came out with the best possible news regarding veteran defenceman Tomas Kaberle. Heading into the off-season it seemed all but likely that Kaberle who just completed his 10^th season with the Leafs would be playing next fall for another organization. Even though this leader on the blue line processes a great skating ability along with other weapons such as quarterbacking the power play and making a great first pass out of the zone, rumors were running wild that Burke would trade him for a scoring forward.  At the June draft it was reported that Toronto had a deal worked out that would have sent Kaberle to their Eastern Conference foes the Boston Bruins in exchange for forward Phil Kessel. According the reports that possible deal fell through due to a misunderstanding about a draft pick that would have been included by the Leafs along with the high scoring defenceman. Even though the 31 year-old Kaberle is coming off a sub par season that saw him score only 31 points in 57 games it would still be a huge mistake for the Leafs to get rid of him. This off-season Burke who has always stressed toughness went out and true to his word added grit in Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek and Garnet Exelby. While they are all quality players none of them have the offensive talents that Kaberle has. If the Leafs were to trade their blue line leader who has scored 433 points in his career then that would create a huge hole for a scoring puck moving defenceman. Luckily Burke is thinking the same thing and announced last Thursday to Leafs Nation that Kaberle likely won’t be traded. “Right now we are not talking to anyone regarding Tomas Kaberle,” Burke said. “It’s interesting, I watched JP’s (Blue Jays GM Ricciardi) comments about Doc Halladay and I feel the same way. “If I had to handicap this I’d be shocked if he’s not a Leaf on opening night.” In adding toughness I believe if anything Burke who won a Stanley Cup as GM of the Anaheim Ducks back in 2007 is making life easier for the smooth skating Kaberle who should have more room to move. This four time All- Star who had his best offensive season in 2005/06 with 67 points didn’t have a lot of toughness around him last year and as a result was at times being taken advantage of by bigger forwards. Expect that not to be an issue this season and as a result to see Kaberle bounce back from his below average season. “I look forward to seeing what Tomas can do with a little more size and toughness around him when he’s not picking his teeth out of the glass all night,” Burke said. “I think bravery and fear are both infectious. I think we have a bigger, rougher group and I think that it will benefit all of our players, not just the ones that play like that.”