Thinking Out Loud: Kaberle

Massive post on TSN.ca from their insider, Darren Dreger, about the Maple Leafs expressing through e-mail to the other 29 teams that Tomas Kaberle is officially available for a deal to take him out of town.  This is really big news, as it really does spell the end of Kaberle's run in Toronto and the reshaping of the Maple Leafs will continue with some more major measures this Summer.

According to the post, the asking price for Kaberle is a 1st round draft pick or an NHL-ready young player, which actually doesn't seem too high of a price, to be honest.  The post also suggests that the Leafs brass are not in a big hurry to move Kaberle out of town, as he could still be a valuable asset to the team in the 2011 season, the last year before he become an unrestricted free agent.

CapGeek.com reports the No Trade Clause as being open after the Entry Draft to August 15th, whereas the Leafs can find a deal for Kaberle outside of that window, but only to an exclusive list of teams provided by Kaberle.  We're still about three weeks away from open season on the Czech veteran, but that isn't to say that interest won't be peaked by most teams and that they can't make a play for him, but I suppose if any of the exclusive teams makes a big enough pitch, likely including their 1st round pick in three weeks, Burke would have to listen.  The Leafs don't have their 1st round pick in 2011 either, so holding out for a pick in that draft doesn't seem to be a bad idea either.

Nevertheless, this will mean that it's open season on the rumour mill, as it was this morning on HockeyBuzz, suggesting some possible teams, possible scenarios and the like.  What I liked in that post was one source was citing offense to be the biggest thing the Leafs are looking for this season and with the defensive depth they have signed on for 2011, that sort of makes sense.

This post is now a pretty good jumping off point for the Summer talks with Kaberle and I'm expecting to return back to it with comparisons of some rumoured deals until the day the deal is done.  I expect to see a good number of deals posted leading up to that day.