Kabby rolls along, grabbing NHL Player of the Week honors

By Paul Bruno

During most of the off-season, there was much speculation surrounding the future of the longest-serving member of the Maple Leafs.

This marks the second straight summer where Tomas Kaberle was the subject of numerous trade rumors.

Yet, he’s still here and after 12 games, leads all NHL defensemen with 17 points. He also earned NHL Player of the Week honors, by tallying 7 points in the Leafs’ three road games last week.

The decision to keep him, particularly at a relatively cap friendly $4.25 Million looks like a master stroke by GM Brian Burke. In fact, this nice rebound season by Kaberle, certainly will project toward increased interest at the trade deadline and perhaps even more in the upcoming offseason, if the club continues to stumble along as a bottom-feeder in the standings..

The Leafs expected a turnaround season from the 11-year veteran who slumped to only 31 points in 57 games played last season. The prevailing wisdom, from the Leaf front office, predicted that Kaberle would revert to his usual, productive form, as a result of being surrounded by the added toughness of this edition of the Leafs.

No-one could have predicted that Kaberle would be this hot to start the year but it certainly rates as a great story, particularly in light of the team’s poor start.

It speaks to his motivation, that we have seen this skilled player rebound so well.

The Leafs need many more feel good news stories to reverse their early-season misfortunes. For now, they can at least boast the NHL’s current Player of the Week.

Hey, it’s a step in the right direction…at least.