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I mean, if you're looking for a Caputi, a probable career 4th line player with 3rd line potenial, then yes ship him off. If you're looking for something of equal value than there will not be any offers on the table. The problem with the Leafs is that there are enough Caputi's to go around, what they need are young top 6 forwards who will be play for a long time. You look at the top teams and you see two potent lines of players under 28 that are locked up for the long term. The Leafs have Kessel and maybe Kadri, if he develops, who fit that criteria (And no, Bozak nor Kulemin are top 6 guys). Kaberle will not get you the asset needed to help the Leafs begin to be a better team.
The real question is, which player will get you that top 6 asset? The answer may be Beauchemin, a stay at home d-man locked up longterm at reasonable dollars. I could see a team like San Jose or Pittsburgh giving up something quaility for that type of player based on their playoff performances alone (albeit in a package with a Kulemin, Garbo, etc). If you look at salaries of stay at home d-men, they've been on the rise since the lockout; one signed this year via free agency will cost you more in terms of cap than one signed last year. That type of player has yet to hit market saturation but when they do you can bet the ones on old contracts will be very sought after.
Where else can they get this player? Teams in bad cap situations obviously. Chicago is going to have to blow up a decent portion of that team after this week and you have to wonder how many teams will be willing to eat salary. As you guys mentioned, the Leafs are probably the only team in the NHL that would be willing to do that. Like the NBA, taking on bad salary can have its perks with young talent; seems like a perfect fit, no? And you wouldn't need to put Kaberle in the deal to accomplish this.
I guess what I'm trying to get at is trading Kaberle isn't anywhere close to helping solve the problems the Leafs need to address. He's in this weird nether world of great player, affordable but untradeable based on how teams are structured today. To get a great package of young players, the time to trade him was last year; the most they can get right now are long-term projects, young players with low ceilings or a low first round draft pick. Will Kaberle be traded? probably, but the return won't neccesarily blow your socks off. |