Did you know that there are twenty-nine fan bases out there that think that adding Tomas Kaberle to their roster is the worst thing that could ever happen? If you read the comments in Jeff’s article yesterday, you definetly would have known that Capitals fans think it’s a bad idea. If you’ve ever taken a glance at HF Boards you’ve probably noticed that everytime Kaberle’s name comes up, which it does a lot, there is an argument made that Toronto is overvaluing him, and at best he’s worth a salary dump forward. While I agree he’s not landing Bobby Ryan for us, I don’t think the deal is Kaberle + for Jason Pominville either. 

Toronto fans add to this craziness. We can not wait to get rid of this guy. We’ve picked apart every roster in the league to try and determine his best value. The past to seasons we’ve had near heart attacks when he won’t shoot the puck on the powerplay and in some cases thrown beer cans at the TV when he won’t pick up the man in front of his own net (especially in overtime.) Leafs fans have devalued him down to the simple role of being a power play quarterback. Honestly, that is still his biggest selling point, but don’t ignore the fact that is he’s rarely caught out of position, he’s one of the speediest guys in the league in reverse, and he can move the puck smartly out of his own zone. A trait that Beauchemin and many of the other Leafs defensemen seemed to struggle with last season.

The fact of the matter is Kaberle is a great defenseman. He’s not a superstar, or a Norris candidate defenseman, but as much as other teams want to debate it, he’s a top pairing guy on 90% of the teams in the league. How many top pairing defensemen are available for $4.25 Million, that are not on entry level deals? If you can name any of them I’m sure they are not at Kaberle’s level. Burke’s argument for not trading Tomas makes a lot of sense, in that players like him are not made available too often, and the Leafs can not replace what he does. It’s true, while Phaneuf, Gunnarsson, and Beauchemin have elements of Kaberle’s pucking moving and offensive game, none of them can truly match it. And although I’m not saying Kaberle is Dan Boyle, but Dan Boyle was the player of similar talent to be moved via trade, and he did not go cheap. The last defenseman like Kaberle to be signed as an UFA was Brian Campbell, and he definitely did not go cheap.

The good news for Leafs fans is that fan bases don’t make trades, GM’s do, and GM’s love Kaberle. If they didn’t Burke would not have received the number of offers that he has, and he wouldn’t be waiting on more to come in (very possibly some more tomorrow). GM’s see that Kaberle would be an asset to their lineup even if they do already employee Dan Boyle or Mike Green. It is fair for Burke to expect a solid roster player for someone who could be the impact player who changes an embarassing first round loss to the Habs into a lengthy playoff run, and I’m sure most GMs that can currently roll two or three lines of offense don’t mind doing some UFA patchwork on that to get a player that has been healthy his entire career (minus a Cam Janssen cheapshot), who consistently puts up 40-50 pts from the blueline, and is sound (not great) in the defensive zone.

With the number of penalties called in the league today, why would you not want someone who is going to increase your chances on the powerplay?  Leafs fans need to get over the idea that Kaberle was some how responsible for the teams failures, in fact he was one of the few bright spots. The reason he is leaving is that forwards need to be the teams priority now, and he is the best asset for landing a forward who can make a difference. Tomas Kaberle is a GREAT hockey player, and I for one will be sad to see him go.

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