Quick Hits: NTCs, post-game reaction

by Alec Brownscombe on January 8, 2009 in Uncategorized - 34 Comments

Confusion across the Barilkosphere as to the respective no-trade clause situations of Pavel Kubina and Tomas Kaberle has been unending, mostly because, of the characteristics that describe the professional sports media in this city, informative or useful are not chief among them.

So I contacted Cliff Fletcher and Brian Burke. Wow, imagine that.

I’ve managed to confirm the following: Pavel Kubina and Tomas Kaberle both have windows of NTC exemption this summer, providing the Maple Leafs miss the playoffs. The windows open come the June Entry Draft and extend until August 15th. This may explain Burke’s intimation that he will not approach either Pavel Kubina or Tomas Kaberle about waiving, he may not ultimately have to. However, I speculate that Burke will still aware Tomas Kaberle or Pavel Kubina of an available deal should one arise as a way of simply “presenting an option.” Based on today’s report on TSN, it seems Kaberle wouldn’t stand in the way of a potential deal.

Tomas Kaberle can be traded as of the Entry Draft to any NHL club. Pavel Kubina has a list of pre-specified teams which unfortunately I couldn’t discover the identities of.

I also managed to confirm with Brian Burke that the Leafs’ conditional sixth rounder involved in yesterday’s trade will only change hands if he re-signs Brad May before or on July 1st.

***

Solid beatings at the hands of superiorly talented teams were to be expected this season. At least this time the Leafs didn’t slip silently into the night.

Brad May was incorrigible in a splendid debut performance… he was in the face of any Hab that looked at him wrong and owned Francois Boullion in a fight. Unfortunately it looked like May got the worst of it as he injured his hand because Bouillion had the gall to fight with his visor on. The revelation that May appears to be a free acquisition, coupled with tonight’s impressive preview, certainly has me sold on Burke’s lone deal thus far. His testiness was infectious and that’s a promising sign.

Grabovski may be facing further punishment for gently shoving the referee and kicking his stick into a crowd. I don’t know why the refs didn’t just let him and ‘Tits go at it so the pair could settle this zealous tiff once and for all.

Luke Schenn has returned with a vengeance. He was a physical force tonight.

But let’s not forget that for the most part the Leafs sucked.

Tags: Brad May, Brian Burke, Cliff Fletcher, Francois Boullion, Luke Schenn, National Hockey League, NHL club, Pavel Kubina, Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs Print article