Re: The Kaberle Trade: An Open Letter to Brian Burke

Dear Brian Burke (can I call you Brian?),

You are a smart, handsome and truculent man. You also don`t return my phone calls. In short I am tired of chasing you around. So I have done what any scorned person does when the object of their interest ignores them - I have taken my voice to the Interwebs. Aha!! I knew you couldn`t resist my open letter gamble and you’d also get lured in by the “handsome” compliment. Anyway, now that I have your attention I need to tell you something. I have whittled our target down to exactly one player - Brad Richards.

Richards, like Kaberle, is entering the final year of his contract and will likely renegotiate for considerably less money at the conclusion of the season. A high-level point producer, Richards finished 7^th overall in scoring last year with 91 points (24 goals, 67 assists) in 80 games. He is a former playoff MVP from Tampa Bay's Stanley Cup winning run plus an all around power play stud; ranking 2^nd in the league in power play points this past season.

Acquiring Richards in a Tomas Kaberle deal would be a huge coup for the Leafs and would land us the number one center we desperately require. While I happily acknowledge that Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel had good chemistry last year (and Nazem Kadri has a legitimate shot at 2011 Rookie of the Year), I am unwilling to accept that the Leafs can offer up a genuine threat with either Bozak or Kadri as our top center. With a combined 38 NHL games split between them they are simply too young and inexperienced to handle the grind and pressure of first line duties for the full 82 game schedule. While they will both be excellent centers for us in the near future, neither of them belong on the first line today. Besides, Bozak centering our second line, with Kadri on left wing and Kris Versteeg playing right sounds like one of the better 1B lines in the NHL! This is why we need to fill that top line center spot with our final trading piece. Please Bri - don’t trade Kaberle for a truculent and vicious power-forward winger who can pot a few goals. What we need right now is a skilled center who can feed Kessel the puck reliably while scoring 20+ goals himself.

Normally a player of Richard’s calibre would not be attainable for the expiring contract of Kaberle but as you know, Dallas has an internally mandated cap, which they currently over, with several players yet to be signed. The Stars have filed for bankruptcy and are desperately looking to sell off the franchise so are keeping costs to a minimum to attract buyers. Basically, something needs to be done in Dallas and fast Burkie!

Moving Richard’s sizable $7.8 million cap hit for Kaberle’s relatively small $4.25 million leaves the Stars with an extra $3.55 million, which can be used to re-sign their young talent such as RFA James Neal, or just to keep costs down. Dallas has also made no secret of the fact that they are interested in trading for a solid defenceman and Kaberle is the best available by a landslide. This deal makes sense for both sides and they should pull the trigger if extended contracts can be negotiated.

If Dallas decides to play hardball and the Richards for Kaberle deal needs to be sweetened a bit, we can toss in newly acquired goaltending prospect Jussi Rynnas. Remember how Dallas wanted him bad (just like they did with goaltenders Ben Scrivens and Jonas Gustavsson before him) and courted him relentlessly this past April? Now they can have him – but for the right price. Add in the fact that Turco has just left for Chicago and the hole in the Stars net just got a lot bigger. I’m sure they would be overjoyed to fill the position with a promising young goaltender signed to a 2 year entry-level salary through 2011-2012. Although I don’t want to part with Rynnas just yet, we are stacked in net and can afford to let this one go if it means getting a franchise player in return.

Landing one of the game’s premier set-up men to the top line in Richards will greatly affect Kessel’s bid for a 40 goal season - with a 50 goal campaign not out of the realm of possibility. Last year any time Kessel took to the ice he was our only threat, and opposing teams were able to focus their defensive efforts 100% on him. Even though Kessel did not skate for 6 months prior to his first shift on November 3, 2009 and suffered heavily with his conditioning all year, he still managed to light up opponents for 30 goals. Add in a center who can deftly create plays for Kessel, work it to the left wing or opt to take the shot himself and our first line suddenly becomes very intriguing. Teams would be unable to “cheat” Kessel or they risk opening themselves up to a variety of dangerous scoring possibilities. This newly created open ice for Kessel alone should see his totals improve significantly but when you consider that he has been working out all summer and will be playing with the best center of his career in Richards, a breakout season is all but assured! A 50 goal season for our 22 year-old winger will go a long way towards helping people forget about “the trade”. See, I’ve got your back too, Burkinator!

In closing B-dot, I just want to say I am a big fan of your work and I forgive you for not getting back to me. I heard you were on some fishing trip or something so yeah it’s totally possible, actually likely, that you were landing “the big one” while I left those messages and just haven’t had the time to get back to me. Anyway, excited to see you make the final catch of the summer and reel in Brad Richards!

Sincerely yours,
Rabid Leaf Superfan #320,714

ps: please forgive the clumsy fishing metaphor.