Kaberle Solution : Careful What You Wish For Leaf Fans

Sometimes the best trades are the ones you never make!!!

And here's hoping I never wake up to hear Tomas Kaberle gets shipped out of town. LeafsNation should be very careful what they wish for as the old saying goes " you just might end up getting it". It is my b-leaf that the one player this team would miss the most and would be hard pressed to ever replace is Tomas Kaberle.

There is no other defenseman on the Leafs, including newcomer Phaneuf, that quite has the skill set of Tomas Kaberle, and I strongly believe once gone will be sorely missed regardless of the return.

A highly skilled puck mover, playmaker, deft passer, all-star, power play specialist, a player rarely injured, that doesn't take stupid penalties, career Leaf, underpaid, in his prime, and wants to be here. The most skilled defender this franchise has seen since Borje Salming.

Brian Burke has now put together a very formidable back end as the foundation for his rebuild, and in my opinion the rebuild should continue to include Tomas Kaberle. I believe Brian Burke should negotiate a home team discount extension to kaberle instead of trying to move him. I would suggest an offer of 15 mil for a 3 year extension that would take him to 36 years of age at the end of it. That, in my opinion, would put an end to the trade speculation that I'm sure Kaberle is sick of hearing, would lock up a cornerstone of the franchise at a great cap hit, and if he truly wants to remain a Leaf would give Kaberle a mild raise and long term security.

As far as Cap management and the obvious needs upfront heres a few thoughts.

Jeff Finger's 3.5mil cap hit for 2 more years needs to be buried in the minors. Sorry Cliff, you really pooh-poohed that signing and everybody knew it the day it happened, time to acknowledge that huge mistake and move on. The contract is absolutely untradeable without taking back someone else's mistake so welcome to the Marlies Jeff.

Schenn and Gunnarson become a solid and affordable 5 and 6 d-men, Garnet Exelby and his 1.725 mil gets traded as well as Alexei Ponikarovsky's 2.1 mil and Wayne Primeau's 1.4 mil for whatever combination of picks or prospects the market gets us. I woul look to resign the 26 year old Stempniak to an extension to a similar 2.5 mil cap hit he has now as the UFA pickings are already slim this summer.

the following will show the 2010/2011 projected cap chart for the Toronto Maple Leafs with estimated RFA raises included, the point being that Brian Burke would have some cash flexibility to improve the offense without having to sacrifice Tomas Kaberle.

As a final stat, Kaberle's career stats

795 NHL games played, 78 g, 398 a, 476 pts, +34, 224pims

2010-11 Salary Cap Calculator

2010-2011 Toronto Maple Leafs
PLAYER	BONUS	CAP HIT
FORWARDS
Phil Kessel	—	$5,400,000
Tyler Bozak	($2,850,000)	$3,725,000
Mikhail Grabovski	—	$2,900,000
* Lee Stempniak	—	$2,500,000
Nazem Kadri	($850,000)	$1,750,000
* Christian Hanson	—	$1,000,000
Colton Orr	—	$1,000,000
Viktor Stalberg	($65,000)	$850,000
* John Mitchell	—	$750,000
Fredrik Sjostrom	—	$750,000
Jay Rosehill	—	$512,500
DEFENSEMEN
Dion Phaneuf	—	$6,500,000
Mike Komisarek	—	$4,500,000
Tomas Kaberle	—	$4,250,000
Francois Beauchemin	—	$3,800,000
Luke Schenn	($2,100,000)	$2,975,000
Carl Gunnarsson	($170,000)	$800,000
GOALTENDERS
Jean-Sebastien Giguere	—	$6,000,000
* Jonas Gustavsson	—	$2,500,000
BUYOUTS
Darcy Tucker	—	$1,000,000
TOTALS
ROSTER SIZE	19
SALARY CAP	$56,800,000
PAYROLL	$53,462,500
BONUSES	$6,035,000
CAP SPACE	$7,597,500