The clock struck midnight and Tomas Kaberle remained a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Leafs had until Aug. 16 to trade Kaberle before his no-trade clause kicked back into effect. Kaberle’s contract allowed the team to trade him during a two-month window in the summer if the team failed to make the playoffs. The Leafs finished second-last in the NHL this past season. This coming season is the last of Kaberle’s four-year deal which pays him $4.25 million annually.
“I’m not upset at all,” Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke told Sportsnet about not dealing Kaberle. “I said it all along if we don’t get a fit, he stays.”
“The hockey club confirms that Tomas Kaberle remains a Leaf,” Burke said in a statement. “While a number of clubs made offers to trade for Tomas, none of them reflected Tomas’s value to our team.
“I understand a period like this is stressful to the player, and we are pleased that there is a resolution, and we can all continue to prepare for the coming season.”
Kaberle has been with the Leafs since 1999, the longest of any player on the current roster. The four-time all-star finished the 2009-10 season with 49 points, but he also recorded a career-low plus/minus of minus-16. The combination of Kaberle’s offensive capabilities as well as his cap-friendly salary made him one of Leafs GM Brian Burke’s most tradeable commodities.
Kaberle has been the subject of trade talk for two seasons, and has previously rejected trade proposals because of his no-trade clause. At the trade deadline two seasons ago, Kaberle was almost traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for center Jeff Carter and a first-round draft pick, but he reportedly vetoed the trade and refused to accept a move from Toronto.
Kaberle was drafted in the eighth round (204th overall) of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft by Toronto.
