Report: Bruins offer up Kaberle’s negotiating rights league-wide
Kaberle/By S. Bradley
The Vancouver Canucks tonight found a taker for the negotiating rights of defenseman Christian Ehrhoff.
The New York Islanders were willing to surrender a fourth-round draft pick to have exclusive rights to sign the veteran blueliner before the free-agent market opens July 1.
According to the Twitter feed of TSN report Darren Dreger, the Bruins have been trying to do the same thing with Tomas Kaberle’s rights as Vancouver did with Ehrhoff’s.
Dreger Tweeted:
Boston Bruins sent out an email this afternoon offering Tomas Kaberle’s negotiating rights. Van did same for Ehrhoff and found a deal.
So assuming Dreger’s Tweet is accurate, this tells you how low the Bruins’ interest is in retaining Kaberle’s services. The Bruins just might be content to give Steven Kampfer and Matt Bartkowski a shot at crashing the top six with just one cheap veteran around to provide extra competition come fall.
We’ll see how this all unfolds prior to and after July 1.
I have to put it in print that Dan NAILED the Carolina trade.
I will take Horton and Peverly any day over Wheeler. I liked Wheeler-he seemed like a nice guy, but Horton and Peverly made a hug difference in this cup run-one I don’t think Wheeler would have done.
Shoot Peverly skated 4th line minutes and did fine there-Wheeler would have been eaten alive on that line against the Canucks.
Peverly was a great trade because of his versatility. I think that versatility proved out during the course of the playoffs.
Hard trades are part of the business. I honestly miss Stuart more than I miss Wheeler and he is probably the one guy traded away I most would have liked to have kept in Boston and seen lifting the cup. I want only the best for Wheeler and Stuart, but the trades were key.
Also, I imagine Wideman wanted out of Boston. Whether it was fair or not Boston fans blamed him for many of the team’s woes. When you are getting booed regularly by your own team’s fans, a trade may be the best thing to ask for.
Eric, those trades were made precisely because of the existing organizational depth, and they were made for a cup push… which turned out pretty well. You can afford to trade first round picks when they’ve been replaced through other trades (not only were the picks replaced, but PC actually improved our draft slots). Providence still has some nice pieces, we incorporated 3 rookies into the lineup this year (4 if you count Kampfer, which we probably should), and we’ll see at least another 1 come up next year. You can’t have an endless number of picks – you never know how/if they’ll develop (like ZH at 7). Especially given how young our team is! The future is very bright!
The Kabby deal didn’t turn out, but shit happens and we won the cup (and even if Kabs wasn’t effective, he still tied for the lead in D scoring, with a solid +/-). It was always too much to pay, even if Kabs came good, but at least we got that cup. That was the price for dealing with Burke after the Kessel job, that’s life.
As for the Horton deal specifically, that was an awesome trade for this team. He’s only 26, the cap hit is good, he a beast and he can still improve based on a very impressive skill set. Fowler is good, but hindsight is 20/20. Pretty much everyone thought he would have been gone earlier, and who knows what Boston would have had to pay to move up. It took Horton one NHL playoff to basically become a Bruins legend – those overtime winners/series winners are priceless – and Greg Campbell played a pretty darn important role for this team as well. In my mind, there’s no way this team wins the cup without those two boys. Wides had also been terrible the previous season – he was way more of a liability than Kabby. I couldn’t even count the number of d-zone turnovers Dennis produced in that last season – it seemed like he whiffed on every second pass.
I’d also like to pump Rich Peverley’s tires here – his versatility was a huge plus for us; even when he wasn’t scoring, he played up and down the lineup, always gave max effort, and never complained. Plus, he’s making 1.35M, which gives us flexibility for next year. Pevs was an important cog in the machine. I understand not wanting to let Wheels go, but he was so inconsistent here and the team was so close to the ultimate goal that Chiarelli felt the need to make the move. Hard to complain about it now, given the result; I’m a big Peverley fan, you can probably tell.
These aren’t the type of trades that O’Connell made (especially the catastrophic JT deal, where 9/10′s of the league didn’t even know he was available), and our current organizational depth – which Chiarelli is largely responsible for – is miles ahead of what O’Connell had built.
PC and Cam have done a great job, and deserve a ton of love for helping to bring home the cup.
Eric, I think your points make a lot of sense looking at the numbers on paper, but other factors like fight and will to win don’t show up. Wheeler vs. Horton? Horton has way more grit and effort in his game. Wheeler imo never used his size or played in a way that resembles the power forward like Horts can. After how much Horton contributed to the cup run I can’t believe you can even suggest they win without Horton on the ice like it would have been no big deal. Honestly, it might just be me but I don’t see Wheeler scoring a GWG in an OT playoff game, let alone two!
Eric – I like the way you’re thinking through the scenarios, but I think you need to spend a little more time thinking through one particular statement you make: ‘..they probably win without Horton…’.
3 game winners – 2 OT winners – 2 Game 7 winners.
Yeah.. probably.
Ehrhoff’s negotiating rights traded, yet again, from the Isles to the Sabres.
The Isles have plenty of cap space so I guess Ehrhoff wanted a Pronger type contract?
1st rounder and Dennis Wideman for Horton…bad trade. Horton’s an excellent player, but they had a very similar player in Blake Wheeler. They still needed a D man, so they trade for Kaberle who is a very similar player (in terms of strengths and weaknesses) to Wideman…If they wanted that type of player they shouldn’t have traded Wideman in the first place. Moreover, if the B’s had kept their 1st round pick in 2010, they were in very good position to move up and take Cam Fowler(since they had 3..make that 2 because of one they traded away) second round draft picks…thus solving their need for an puck moving D-Man.
Then they trade Wheeler in order to create cap space for Kaberle. (Stuart probably would have left via free agency anyway so I’ll give them a mulligan there) This seqence of events makes little sense. Yes they won a cup…but how much of a factor was kaberle? They probably would have won without the Horton, or Kaberle trades given that Wheeler could probably give you the same production as Horton if he played on the first line.
These moves seriously compromise the future. Think about what they gave up in all…in essence 5 first round picks….Wheeler, Stuart, Colborne, 2010 first rounder, 2011 first rounder, plus a 2nd and third round pick. Chiarelli’s obviously a smart guy, but these trades are of the sort that got O’Connel fired. He appears to have been effected by the pressue…it is difficult to make good decisions under pressure…and Chia, does not seem to have the miserly streak that makes great GM’s. Sinden may have been miserly. but he was a very talented GM. …He traded away one and only one first round pick (for Charlie Simmer) in his entire tenure as B’s GM.
GOOD GM’S DO NOT TRADE FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS!!!
Interesting, THN reports Habs traded negotiating rights with Wiz for 7th/5th(if they sign him) pick to Columbus. That’s a guy I still wouldn’t mind seeing a Bruin.
Have to imagine someone out there may be a little more interested in Kaberle now?
Boise – I fully expected that Kabs would be stuck having to take a one-year in order to re-prove himself after his dud of a Bs run. Guess the market is a tad irrational by my tastes.. I would have been all over a one-year. Even at $4mil. But I’m not risking anything on 3 or more years after what I saw.
I’m not a Kaberle hater, though he didn’t perform to the over inflated expectations everyone had of him. I think if PC could have worked a one year deal with him, a kind of “show me” season, the B’s could benefit with him on the roster. If he had a full year to work Claude’s system, I think he could really help this team that sometimes has issues on the break out and the PP. Has everyone forgot about his passing skills that made him such a desirable trade aquisition? Pretty sure those skills don’t just go away.
Not enough to warrant $4.5-$5mil/yr for 3-5 years as he is probably asking. The nerve!
Like I mentioned before, IMHO the Bruins don’t have a lot of solid options – especially considering the probable cost of retaining the next class of Bruin UFAs/RFAs. That said, there’s still no reason to overpay this guy because if you’re interested in sacrificing future cap/roster flexibility, then you mine as well go out and lock up a star or trade for a marquis name.
The issue – if we all think back to December, January – was the Bs being able to handle a good forecheck and being able to move the puck up and out of the zone in any manner than simply flipping up the boards.
They definitely improved. How much of that was Kaberle???
I think you have to have the right kind of wall.
The Weber type walls are few and far between and very costly. But I would love to see a really strong #2 defenseman with Seids and Chara shutting down players together. Seids isn’t quite good enough IMO to anchor his own pair, but he and Chara complement each other very well and both can play to their strengths and frustrate almost any top line players from other teams.
While I think various other teams we played against in the playoffs respected what Chara could do, I think Seids surprised them.
It would be nice to have a defensive wall, but I would think a PMD who is just good at moving the puck forward, rather than excellent and is average or above average defensively will fit the Bruins system well. That PMD also gives us an offensive dimension that has to be respected and opens up holes simply by his presence. It wasn’t worth overpaying for Kabs, but having a presence that can make a substantial transition game will benefit us more than another wall.
Of course, another wall would be preferable to someone who is just mediocre in both aspects of the game.
The bottom line is there are better players available whether by signing or by trade for basically the same money, give or take 1mil. I would prefer another shutdown defender. Someone who isn’t really offensively oriented but is a wall defensively (another Seidenberg). It takes the pressure off the top pairing.
Keep the rest of the money for the trade deadline. They should not spend to the cap going into the season.
Sounds like a matter of Kaberle wanting more than the Bruins are willing to give him.
I wouldn’t mind Kaberle staying for a reasonable cap hit, but it sounds like Kaberle wants more and the Bruins are either looking at somebody else hitting the market or are going to remain content to develop what they have.
Kampfer may be getting his shot and he certainly comes much cheaper than Kaberle or any PMD on the market. Probably more mistake prone but there is raw talent there.
This is a good move by Boston. I would not have minded Kaberle being resighned at a reasonable price (no more than 3.3 mill per season in my books) but if he wants too much then Bye,Bye Thomas!
Not usually a big fan of Haggerty, but I like his Wisnewski idea. Good skater, plays to contact and can score on the PP and 5X5. I’d much rather overpay for him than get a “bargain” on Kaberle. If we can sign him for ~$4MM, I’m all for it.
I hope Chia is looking into Jovanovski. He’s the best UFA left on the market and has to be getting hungry for a chance to win given that he’s 34.
ouch. savvy’s coming back to qb the pp.
I wouldnt keep Kaberle for free. I will take a substitute please for a fraction of the cost.
Could the Blue’s Matt D’Agostini become Ryder’s replacement?
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/professional/article_fccb2b69-62b4-5519-bd81-9eeb550c3b30.html
I still dont think kampfer or bartkowski are ready…..id trade kaberle to Carolina for Corvo or try to sign a veteran free agent d-man…..bruina have so much cap space i love it!
I don’t know whether to be happy when the GM keeps doing things I would do… or very concerned. I guess I’ll go with it and take happy. Well done, PC.
James – they already decided to let him walk. They’re just trying to wiggle a late round pick out of the predicament. I like PC more and more every day.
PC lost this deal with Burke. Won Stanley Cup in spite of Kaberle. Cut your losses now! Save the cap room for later.
Good news, I’ll take the kids and more cap room over kabs
3 years and 10 mil max or let him walk.
Wow, I just posted the Erhoff deal on your “NHL Free Agent” article and now good news regarding Kaberle.
Obviously, Kaberle wants big $’s and, at least, 3 years. I don’t think he could (effectively) take up any defensive slack should a B’s D-man go down. We all saw the ‘hurt’ of his 20-28 mins of time in the hab playoffs, Good Luck to him though.