Tomas Kaberle has not been the difference-maker the Boston Bruins thought they were acquiring.
BOSTON - Tomas Kaberle hops over the boards and skates seamlessly, almost unnoticeably into the play. For the next 45 seconds he looks very much like the confident, experienced National Hockey League defencemen that he should be, after 900-plus games.
He passes the puck crisply, most often in the build up of a play rather than the critical, finishing dish that leads to a scoring chance. He skates the puck well, though not from end to end or with the air of a defenceman intent creating something all by himself.
On the frail Boston Bruins powerplay he is a simply a way station for the puck. Not the final stop for that blast that might make a difference in a Stanley Cup Final, something once considered a likely scenario for a sought-after finishing piece like Kaberle.
Through two pointless, ineffectual games of this Final, Kaberle has become a metaphor the Boston Bruins team he plays for: A nice player and a nice team, but after all the hype, neither is quite as good as what the Vancouver Canucks have to offer.
There is nothing bad to say about either Kaberle or the Bruins, though not a lot of good either through two close games on this Stanley Cup Final, both won by the Canucks.
As a Canadian who has been force-fed years of Kaberle speculation by the Toronto media, you watch him play for a couple of nights and think, "This is the guy Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke secured Boston's best minor league prospect (Joe Colborne), a late first-round pick (29th or 30th) and a second-rounder for?
"Nice trade, Burkie."
Every July 1, every March trading deadline. "Would he stay? Would he waive? How much could he fetch?"
Simply by the amount of airtime devoted to the topic, the fallen forests to produce the newsprint, the endless radio conversation, the name "Tomas Kaberle" became synonymous with "highly valuable defenceman who can take a team that's close and put them over the top."
Well, Boston is close. And Kaberle, a four-time all-star, is not at the steering wheel, ranking fifth among Bruins defencemen in ice time at 16:12 per playoff game.
A No. 5 defenceman is what he has become, after being brought here to quarterback a powerplay that has been worse than abysmal.
"You're right: It's been pretty bad," defenceman Dennis Seidenberg admitted. "But we try to be positive in here, and hopefully we'll be better. It has to be better."
For his part, the 33-year-old Czech is oblivious to the concern, as he always seemed to be during his 11 seasons in Toronto.
"At the start it was tough, leaving a place where you played for so long, had lots of friends," he said. "We had to adjust to a new team, new teammates. But now, I'm in the Final, and I'm really enjoying it."
"The guys made it easier on me, my new teammates. They helped me from the Day 1."
The Bruins, we restate, gave up a largesse to acquire Kaberle's services for this playoff run only. He becomes a unrestricted free agent on July 1, and where we once assumed that he was underpaid at $4.25 million - and would correct that with a giant payday this summer - this playoff run has proven that a woeful error.
Kaberle is a third-pairing guy at this, his first Final, playing on the first-unit powerplay that can't find his pass with both hands. He's a player's player, a pro's pro to be sure. But the players don't pay the paychecks - owners do.
"All those years in Toronto were great practice for him," fellow Boston defenceman Andrew Ference chuckled. "If you don't get a good, tough exterior shell on you there, you're not going to get it anywhere.
"It's allowed him to step into a role as a player on a team that's expected to do things, and roll with the punches. He's been seamless in the locker room. I think, all those years of guys being so familiar with him, watching him on TV, and all the coverage the Maple Leafs get, he comes in with immediate respect."
But NHL players know the bottom line better than anyone else, and the bottom line begins and ends with production. If you're a sixth defenceman, then you fulfill the worker-bee duties that role entails.
If you're the free agent pick-up that was supposed to bring offence from the back end, then zero playoff goals and eight assists won't do.
And beyond even the numbers, being just another guy in a Bruins uniform who checks in for his 45-second shift is not what Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli brought him here for.
Kaberle is supposed to be a difference maker, and so far, the only score he's settled was the uneven trade Chiarelli had made when he sent Phil Kessel to Toronto.
"I still put a lot of pressure on myself," Kaberle said, seemingly immune to the critical question. "Boston is a good hockey city as well, everybody has high expectations every year. And that's what you want … that every day you are pushed to the limits."
Pushed to the limits? Sure.
Reaching the limits? Tomas Kaberle hasn't come anywhere close in Boston.
Follow Mark Spector on Twitter.com @SportsnetSpec
