Ron Wilson wearing thin on Kaberle - expect a move this summer

Wilson act wearing thin on veteran Kaberle







NEWS
Wilson act wearing thin on veteran Kaberle
April 1, 2010

A report in a Toronto newspaper suggests Leafs defenceman Tomas Kaberle
has "had enough" of coach Ron Wilson's lack of respect for his players.

The Toronto Sun quoted an unnamed source saying Kaberle, the
longest-serving Leaf now in his 11th season, is "at his wit's end" with
the second-year coach and that Kaberle is sure to be dealt in the
off-season.


Kaberle has one year remaining on a contract that includes a no-trade
clause, but the Leafs have window to deal him because the team failed to
make the playoffs.


Wilson is not shy about directing criticism, often with a trace of
sarcasm, at players and the article points to comments Wilson made
following Tuesday's 3-2 loss to Atlanta that officially eliminated the
team from the post-season. Wilson called out unnamed defencemen with
poor plus-minus ratings that made it easy to identify the culprits as
Kaberle and Francois Beauchemin. Kaberle is minus-16 on the season and
Beauchemin is minus-15.


Burke on HC @ Noon Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke will
join Daren Millard and Doug MacLean at 1:05 p.m. ET to discuss another
season of his club finishing out of the playoffs. Burke will also talk
about the time he spent in Afghanistan last week, whereby former NHLers
visited the troops. Watch HC@Noon on Rogers Sportsnet or listen at the
Fan590.


"We talk about how solid our defence is and how well we're playing and
we've still got guys who are minus-16 or whatever," the article quotes
Wilson as saying. "They're supposed to be guys who get the job done
defensively and they haven't improved their plus-minus over the past
month when just about everybody else has."


At the NHL trade deadline on March 3, Kaberle gave GM Brian Burke a
short list of teams to which he would agree to be traded but a deal
could not be made.


Though Kaberle is second on the Leafs with 49 points, only five have
come in the past 20 games.Link:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2010/...aberle_wilson/

Since this is the most recent "Kaberle" thread, and with the window closing on his NTC, there've been plenty of rumours.

SD has heard Colorado. Dallas Dave tweeted that "Kaberle will not be a Los Angeles King, unless something drastic changes'.

We know that Burke plays hardball. He's in no panic to trade Kaberle, arguably their best defenceman, who has 1-yr left. He's also perfectly content with re-negotiating an extension with him. And Kaberle has expressed his interest in remaining a Leaf (but we all know how things change once that contract reaches zero and July 1st rolls around.

Burke wants the return on a trade to knock his socks off or else no deal. His teams likely priorities are a top 6 winger or center. Someone like Bobby Ryan, James Neal, and possibly Wayne Simmonds. He loves his guys that have grit.

So, the questions to be asked:
- Will Kaberle still be a Leaf when the summer ends?
- If traded, where do you think he goes? And what comes back to Toronto?

Here are a few of my random, wild, crazy predictions:

NYI <->Okposo

DAL <-> Ribeiro

NYR <-> Dubinsky + Staal

TB <-> Downie

WAS <-> Fleischmann

SJ <-> Setoguchi

NAS <-> Radulov

CBJ <-> Filatov

He'll be gone. No idea where, but that well's been long poisoned. Can't see him sticking around.

Kaberle to Anaheim for Peter Holland and a pick.

Not a bad suggestion. Burke-Anaheim connection, trades him out west to boot. Anaheim doesn't necessarily need him though, if they plan on playing Sbisa AND Fowler, but he easily becomes one of their best OFD.

Dallas Dave believes Stars will put forth a significant offer for Kaberle.

wprager wrote:He'll be gone. No idea where, but that well's been long poisoned. Can't see him sticking around.

Well, it's beginning to look like he'll stay a Leaf a while longer. And Burkie will be hoping to heck that he doesn't suck or get injured.

i think kaberle won't be traded. unless the team can re-negotiate with kaberle before the trade Jurke wants too muc in return for one year of Kaberle.

dallas dave has been saying that buffalo might offer pominville for kaberle.

Burke really overestimated what he could get for Kaberle. His attempt at starting a bidding war through the media seems to have failed as well.

Now they're stuck.

Should have done the Jeff Carter deal years ago.

They'll maybe get a late-first, early 2nd for him at the trade deadline now.

Burke really blew his chances here. I would have settled with prospects.

I think hatred for Leafs/Burke is getting in the way here. First, Kaberle didn't have a horrible season last year, unless 45 points (25 on the PP) is horrible. Second, they would absolutely love to have him back. And at his price tag, he's a great bargain for any team. The problem a lot of teams have is being able to re-sign him knowing full well he is underpaid. He's going to get $5M+ next year. If they still want to trade him, they can. It just will be harder with Kaberle having the final say. And if they can wait it out till March and have him agree to a deal, they can get more than they would have been able to now.

Hoags wrote:Burke really overestimated what he could get for Kaberle. His attempt at starting a bidding war through the media seems to have failed as well.

Now they're stuck.

Meh.. not really. I believe it's only a Limited NTC that has kicked in now. There will probably be a better deal at the next deadline... Burke wasn't going to give him away for nothing.

I'm not so sure they'd want him back all the talking of shopping Kaberle around since the draft combined with the supposed Ron Wilson friction.

They got an overpaid blue line and are still shallow in the top-6 and now Kaberle will have an NTC come trade deadline which will complicate things.

I think Burke wanted way more than other teams were willing to give (ie. Bobby Ryan).