Kaberle Talk, Chicago Still Screwed/Sharks
The Toronto Star continues to shine a light on the Kaberle front. According to Brian Burke, he has “four concrete offers” on the table and seems to be rather confident he can land a first round pick. That said, the Toronto Sun suggest that of the six teams interested in Kaberle’s services, the Ducks have expressed the strongest interest.
The Anaheim Ducks are looking to fill the void left by the now retired Scott Niedermayer and Kaberle would be a perfect fit for the solution. Another team offered Brian Burke a late first round pick for Luke Schenn, but was turned down immediately.
Brian Burke has now spoken out against the Kaberle rumour to the Anaheim Ducks. “What we’re listening to right now is not related to the draft,†said Burke. “It was only related to the draft if we want picks and we don’t. If we make a trade to get some picks, that would be great, but it’ s not a priority. So we may well leave here without doing anything major or minor, other than picking at 62. I have not had any meaningful discussions with (Ducks GM) Bob Murray about any player on my roster, or his roster. Certainly not Bobby Ryan.â€
If ever there was a day for Brian Burke to “cover up” the loss of the second overall pick with a little distraction, it’s draft day. That is why I feel Tomas Kaberle will be dealt Friday night. Burke will want to take the attention off losing a top choice in the draft by making Leafs fans excited with a potentially large deal, and knowing how Burke tends to be in seeking attention on major occasions (last season he attempted to land a top five pick and instead stole the Senators pick in Nazem Kadri), we can expect something will go down.
As for the Chicago Blackhawks, they are by no means done. With $53M committed to 13 players and still the need to re-sign Antti Niemi, Andrew Ladd and Niklas Hjalmarsson, this team is still in trouble. While they will likely bury Cristobal Huet’s contract in the minors, freeing up $5M, they still need to shed salary to fix their issues.
Thus far, they’ve been successful in not having to move Kris Versteeg or Patrick Sharp, but they are both the answer and the problem for the Blackhawks. They are big assets for any team and have a ton of value, but shedding them from the roster would create a rather large void in their top six scoring. Any return would have to be significant, and would likely command similar salary figures in just a few seasons. It is likely we will see the Blackhawks in the same situation for years to come.
The San Jose Sharks are not interested in losing the services of Joe Pavelski, nor Patrick Marleau. Each will be staying in San Jose for an additional four years, Marleau earning $6.9M per season and Pavelski earning $4M a year.
“We are very pleased that Patty and Joe have committed to this organization now and in the future,†said general manager Doug Wilson. “They expressed a strong belief in the direction this franchise is heading but also understand the challenges to keeping a talented group like ours together. Both players had a tremendous regular season, excelled on the ice for their respective countries at the Winter Olympics and elevated their game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They have solidified their place in the game among the League’s top forwards and we are excited as an organization to have Joe and Patty back in San Jose to build on what we accomplished last season.â€
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