What Next?

Although I expected Kaberle to get traded before the August 15th deadline, after three years of seeing such deadlines pass without a trade, I can't say I'm surprised it didn't happen. I also can't say I'm overly disappointed by Burke's decision to keep him rather than trade him away for less than what he's worth to the Leafs. People seem to forget what a great player he actually is. I hope that with the deadline passing, people stop talking about trading him. I also hope we can sign him to an extension before the season starts.

That being said, the Leafs now have 8 NHL defencmen at a total salary cap hit of approxmiately $28m. It's way too much and you simply can't justify having two such defencmen sitting in a pressbox on a nightly basis. The Leafs need to go into next season with 7 defencemen on their roster.

1. Kaberle and Phaneuf - No chance either guy gets traded
2. Mike Komisarek and Jeff Finger - No chance anyone would take these guys right now.
3. Carl Gunnarson - Young, talented and cheap; makes no sense to trade him.
4. Brett Lebda - Acquired as a free agent and will not get dealt.
5. Luke Schenn - It would take one hell of an offer for the Leafs to consider trading him.
6. Francois Beauchemin - Could likely be moved for a reasonable return.

Everyone (including myself) has been assuming that Finger will just be shipped to the Marlies along with his salary and cap hit. While this is an option, I'm starting to think that the Leafs would be better off making another move.

If the Leafs could find a taker for Beauch, they would alleviate a $3.8m cap hit. The other benefit to this is that Finger can be given a shot to play in the NHL and prove his worth. If he plays well, maybe a team out there would consider taking him off our hands? The worst case scenario is that Finger stinks it up and gets sent to the Marlies anyways, with our top 6 still being Phaneuf, Kabs, Schenn, Komi, Gunnar and Lebda. Only difference is that a guy like Keith Aulie would be given a shot to rotate in as the #7 dman. Seems like low risk high reward for the Leafs. It's not like Beauch has been stellar on the back end since being acquired anyways!