To trade or not to trade — that is the upcoming question with Tomas Kaberle.
And it comes with no easy answer.
If the Maple Leafs determine to trade Kaberle this summer, when his no-trade clause is deactivated, they do so with many issues worthy of debate. Who do they get to replace Kaberle? How do they replace a defenceman of his puck-handling skills and reasonable contractual status? And what happens to the possibility of Dion Phaneuf on the power play, taking advantage of Kaberle’s perfect one-timer feeds?
This is the long-time story of the long-time Leaf: He is the only chip they have to bargain, but do they get better by moving him or keeping him? He has a rare skill, yet obvious deficiencies, almost no leadership but comes with a certain stability.
For every “if” with Kaberle there is a “but.” And soon, a decision has to be made. The Leafs either trade him in the summer or re-sign him longterm. One or the other. Of that, there is no choice.
THIS AND THAT
Still don’t know what to make of Roberto Luongo, gold medal and all. He had a 2-0 lead in every Olympic start, yet rarely looked comfortable in any game. Skittish was more like it ... Sidney Crosby, Eric Staal and Rick Nash should have gone to that closing ceremony. At least that way, Crosby, Staal, Nash and (Neil) Young — four great Canadians — could have been together ... A medal update after four NHL Olympic hockey tournaments: Finland 3, Canada, USA, Czech Republic and Russia 2, Sweden 1. And how does that make sense? ... Isn’t Brian Burke doing this rebuild of the Leafs backwards? He should have bottomed out last year with the Leafs when he had the opportunity instead of bottoming out now without a first-round draft choice? If he bottoms out the final months of last year, he might have Matt Duchene now instead of Nazem Kadri ... The latest scorecard on the Phil Kessel trade: Both teams are losers at this point. The Bruins don’t have scoring from the wing. The Leafs don’t have those much-needed high draft choices ... From Olympic hockey, I came away very impressed by, in no particular order, Dustin Brown, Ryan Kesler, Ryan Suter, Drew Doughty, and the defensive tenacity of Nash. (See what playing for Ken Hitchcock does for a player?) Unimpressed with Joe Thornton, Kessel, Chris Pronger and Alexander Ovechkin.
HEAR AND THERE
If the baseball season began today, the Blue Jays’ five-man starting rotation would likely have Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow, Mark Rzepczynski and Brian Tallet (awaiting Dustin McGowan being ready). Combined career victories: 61 ... A headline that never goes away: Goaltending woes trouble Ottawa Senators ...
Everything about John Mitchell looks like an NHL player. And then the game begins ... So, what was more memorable, the Olaf Kolzig era or the Martin Skoula era with the Leafs? ... If I could buy season tickets for only one NHL team, I’d buy them for the Chicago Blackhawks. After watching Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith at the Olympics, this has to be the best team to watch in all of hockey ... The other night in U.S. college hockey, Viktor Stalberg’s younger brother, Sebastian played against Kessel’s younger brother, Blake ... Give Martin Brodeur credit for handling his benching at the Olympics a whole lot better than Curtis Joseph did in 2002. Brodeur may have been upset about being bypassed but he never displayed it publicly with body language the way Joseph did in Salt Lake City ... I see where a school in Milton, Ont., is going to be named after the legendary wrestler and current philanthropist, Tiger Jeet Singh. And I wonder, how long before we have Haystacks Calhoun High, where all kinds of food, in large portions, are available in the cafeteria.
SCENE AND HEARD
If you are Chris Bosh, it makes sense to leave the Raptors for a chance to play with LeBron James or Dwyane Wade in Miami or Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles. But if he can’t manage any of those moves, he’s best to stay in Toronto and be the big fish in the small pond ... Under the department of laughable: Career advice from Tracy McGrady, who may play his entire NBA life without winning a playoff round. Still have to wonder, after all these years, what would have happened if McGrady and Vince Carter had committed to playing together in Toronto: What would have been possible? ... For the second year in a row, Bryan Colangelo’s big money off-season acquisition bombs. Last year, Jermaine O’Neal. This year, Hedo Turkoglu. The difference, though, is that Colangelo’s smaller moves, picking up Jarrett Jack, Sonny Weems, Amir Johnson, Antoine Wright, have worked out just fine ... Almost one season in and I have no clue what to think of DeMar DeRozan. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect more from the Raptors’ first-round pick. Not sure if he’ll ever be more than just another NBA guy ... Rumbling that won’t go away: The historically pitiful Los Angeles Clippers will not only go hard after LeBron in free agency, but will offer him a future piece of ownership of the club.
AND ANOTHER THING
Confirm or deny: Wayne Gretzky dropped 20 pounds — some will tell you 30 — before making all his public appearances at the Vancouver Olympics, including the lighting of the torch ... See where J.P. Ricciardi, who had great disdain for media, is now, guess what, a media person with ESPN ... The best Olympics ever? No. The best Winter Olympics ever? No. The best-looking Olympics ever: Definitely ... Nicklas Lidstrom has joined a most exclusive group with 800 assists as a Red Wing: The other members, Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio and Steve Yzerman ... Yzerman, by the way, should be the leading candidate for every available GM job now: He has grown by leaps as a public person and hockey administrator the last 12 pressure-filled months ... So I’m showing my age here, but rather than expose the world to a collection of mostly junky Canadian noise at the closing ceremony — really, couldn’t we have done without Hedley and Nickelback? — wouldn’t it have been more fun and more British Columbia to bring out Trooper to “raise a little hell” or be “here for a good time, not a long time?” ... Happy birthday to a list of greats and near-greats that includes Ivan Lendl (50), Franco Harris (60), Joe Carter (50), Lynn Swann (58), Jeff Kent (42) and one of my all-time favorites, Mauro (Goose) Gozzo (44) ... And hey, whatever became of Brad Schlegel?
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