Pause For the Clause Over: In Tomas Kaberle's Defense, Keeping Him a Great Move

Today is the final day of the clause in Tomas Kaberle's contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, which would allow General Manager Brian Burke to trade the all-star defenseman without having the no-trade clause blessed and waived by the player. The window was opened when the Leafs failed to make the playoffs last season.

Brian Burke was not shy in making it clear that he no longer has any intentions of moving Kaberle any time soon. Barring the "Kessel from the Bruins" trade fiasco highlighted at this years entry draft in Montreal, there has been very little in the way of talk about any transactions involving the 31-year-old.

And those of you in Leaf Nation should understand that by not making a deal involving Kaberle, it is almost guaranteed to be a great move that will help the team.

Yes, there is a chance that the Leafs could have landed a top-tier forward in exchange for the defenseman, but those pickings are slim and sometimes it's better to settle for the devil you know.

The move to pick up a star forward or two will eventually happen in any number of other ways, such as trading a different defenseman, or by using the available cap space.

No, Kaberle is not a physical, on-ice terror. However, Burke has taken care to fill the holes around Kaberle with big, tough defenseman that will allow him a little more freedom to do what he does best: move the puck out of the zone and generate some offense.

Had Kaberle been moved, Burke would have put himself into a position to replace him with a similar offensive-defenseman. That made no sense and would have been no simple task.

Look at the positives. Kaberle, although quite passive, was the closest thing to a Captain that the Leafs had last year. His season was shortened by injuries yet in 57 games he accumulated a very respectable 31 points, many of which came on a less than talented power play.

Kaberle's ability to move the puck makes him one of the finest power play specialists in the league, and as an overall defenseman, a top-10 guy.

The move, or lack there-of, shows that Burke is not afraid to reverse his train of thought if he feels that there is another way, and on this occasion he made a great decision.

Did he have offers? Who knows? Did he make any attempts to find Kaberle a new home? No!

Did he make the right move by keeping Kaberle in Toronto. Absolutely!