Kaberle Trade Pool Results

@ Tim Horton:
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Exactly. I think Wilson has also been at the helm of mostly rebuilding teams. All his managers tend to dump him as soon as he gets his team going in the right direction. He’s the right guy to whip young players into shape (for most of them, I know some people find him too harsh, but I think he’s adapted a bit). It’s kind of hard to judge him based on those stats when he had 3 years with an expansion club in Anaheim, two years with absolute shit in Toronto, and a mix bag of talent in between with San Jose and Washington. People forget, San Jose was not a Cup Contender when he arrived. They were when he left, and that was due in large part to Joe Thornton and himself. Patrick Marleau also had his best years under WIlson. He took a fairly mediocre Washington team to the Cup Finals also…

@ Tim Horton:
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Exactly, they’re making millions of dollars. I could care less about their feelings, but there is probably a better reason why Wilson should save the comments for behind closed doors in Toronto. I mean, last year he said Kaberle needed to work on improving his plus/minus, and the media turned that into a non stop rant about how Kaberle fallen so far downhill, was incapable defensively, and blah blah blah. You destroy value by talking too much in Toronto.
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It’s kind of annoying, because I believe Lidstrom and Suter both struggled out of the gate last year with their plus/minus (it’s rare for them, I know – but it’s also rare for Kaberle, who was never a minus until this rebuild started). But if Barry Trotz were to have said the same thing about Suter, or Babcock the same thing about Lidstrom – “we need him to just calm down, and get the plus minus in order” – no one would have said a thing. But for Kaberle, or any Leaf really, it’s a death sentence.

@ Schenn_equals_Beast:
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Tough to say. I think Benn has the most potential. Neal, for all the accolades MLHS hands him, has done nothing worth noting in his career so far. He’s scored some goals on a very offensively gifted line, with very good linemates. Versteeg has similar goal totals (51G vs 42G in two seasons), but played mostly with John Madden – a marked offensive decline from Brad Richards. He was also 2nd PP unit vs. 1st. I think Versteeg is more skilled than Neal, but Neal’s size might ultimately make him the more effective player. TIme will tell.

@ Schenn_equals_Beast:
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He already did that a few months ago when we did this dance the first time. He said “If I hated Ron Wilson so much, why wouldn’t I have just asked for a trade.” Back then, Steve Simmons wouldn’t reveal his source, but in hindsight, it was probably his father shooting his mouth off again.