'Who's getting the first rounder again? You guys? Screw that, we're keeping Kadri.'
Flash forward to 2010. The Boston Bruins have just acquired Nathan Horton from the Florida Panthers and shipped out Dennis Wideman, a player that had a very disappointing 2009-10 season.
This opens up a hole on the Bruins defence and a year ago, as mentioned above, they expressed some serious interest in acquiring Kaberle.
I see no reason why the Bruins wouldn't take a run at Kaberle again. They have picks (ours), and talented forward prospects and Kaberle would look great alongside Chara.
The Bruins would make an ideal trading partner in my mind because of the over-abundance of talented centres the team has. With Savard, Bergeron, Krejci and likely Seguin it looks like talented prospect Joe Colborne will be on the outside looking in for the foreseeable future. This is the guy the Leafs should target.
Colborne has the dimensions Burke likes in his centres. He's 6'5", a good play-maker and a decent skater. Very much in the mould of a guy like Ryan Getzlaf, a player that Burke is intimately familiar with.
Burke wants a top-six forward and a first rounder. Good luck. I think if you can get a talented prospect like Colborne and your own second-rounder back then you have to pull the trigger on that deal. Let's build towards 2011-12.
8 comments:
Bergeron's contract is up after this year which opens up a hole for Colborne. Without a Kaberle extension in his pocket, I doubt Chiarelli sends Colborne and a pick for one year of Kaberle.
Would you do it if it's Kaberle and Aulie for Colborne? I would if I was a certain fat Irishman.
I think that if you're dealing Kaberle straight up for one player then that player has to be guaranteed to be a top-six player and I don't think Colborne is the can't-miss type.
While fan perception shouldn't necessarily matter, the fact is that Kaberle was effectively out the door for Carter and a first. If you make a deal for a guy that busts and fans have the Carter deal to compare your against, the player you bring in would become a Leaf-meme for 'bad deal'.
The important difference there is that Kaberle was allegedly out the door for a pre-breakout Carter and a mid-to-late 1st with a cheap deal in place for three playoff runs. Now he only has one season left under contract, after which he will command over $5M on the open market. The return for him will necessarily be smaller than it was at the time. Colborne isn't altogether that different from pre-breakout Carter. Both mid first round picks projected to be power centres. Colborne is behind Carter's development pace but you'll never trade Kaberle for an established young star...it has to be potential.
Fan perception be damned - the fans are going to be disappointed with anything short of Carter+1 even now.
In other developments, Dreger has given life to the Savard whispers by even acknowledging them. Would you do Kaberle+ for Savard; the first line centre your team needs this season?
Oh, I fully acknowledge that a Carter deal for Kaberle is out of the question now -- but that's what could have been and will invariably be what the next deal is compared against.
That said, I still feel you absolutely have to get a guy that is guaranteed to be in your lineup three years from now.
I wouldn't move a Kaberle package for Savard personally because I would still feel that we're a ways away at that point and that Savard is about to start the twilight of his career. I feel prospects or picks are the way you have to start this re-build and worry about adding established pieces once Giguere comes off the books.
But there's no comparison because of the number of years on Kaberle's deal (and on Kaberle himself). Anyone who evaluates the eventual deal in relation to that deal is deluding themselves. You look back and say "Damn you Kaberle, look what we could have had!" of course, but that has no bearing on today.
I agree about Savard, but that's the thing right...you won't get an "in-his-prime" player for him so it's either young or old. You don't want old, so if you get prospects or picks for Kaberle, how can you say you're ever getting a "guaranteed" NHL'er? The best you can get is a blue-chip prospect, like Colborne.
Boston would be daft to trade 3 years of cheap Colborne for 1 year of reasonably-priced Kaberle without getting more in return. And really, how much more of your future to you want to give Boston if you're Brian Burke?
The market for players has been set and it makes no sense.
Byfuglien and bad contracts are worth a first and a second and a decent prospect.
Horton is worth the 15th overall and a second rounder.
I'm officially done speculating on Kaberle until something happens because none of this makes any sense to me.
Crazy how accurate this is!! And how dumb destroyko looks!!
Our second back is almost the same as Bostons first so basically the only thing you missed was the conditional pick. Ill give you a pass on that one!!
Wow. You guys really nailed this one. Do you have people on the inside of the MLSE or how did you know?
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