The Toronto Maple Leafs will begin life without Tomas Kaberle tonight as they take on the Ottawa Senators in a battle of Ontario. The Leafs shipped Kaberle to division rival Boston yesterday, as part of the rebuilding phase. The Leafs were able to acquire another first round pick in this year's draft, giving them two now. The Leafs may look to give up those picks and move up in the draft, or just keep them and take two late first round picks.
Kaberle was the longest serving Leaf on the roster having spent his whole career there. His depth on the blue-line will be missed but it will give guys like Carl Gunnarsson, Luke Schenn, and Keith Aulie a chance to play crucial minutes down the stretch and on the powerplay. The Leafs may have given up a key guy on the blue-line but the package they got back in return will allow them to keep getting younger and build towards that powerhouse team they want. Kaberle will be a nice asset to the Boston Bruins powerplay, he will do what he did in Toronto with McCabe, in Boston with Chara. Kaberle will take over for Reechi on the first powerplay unit and that will become a top unit in the league.
Only time will tell what team wins the trade, however Brian Burke is basically the GM of the Leafs, Bruins, and Ducks as those are the two teams he trades with the most. Brian Burke has said since day one the team will get younger and better, so far so good.
The Leafs will continue their playoff push tonight at home against Ottawa. The Senators are trading everything except for the washing machine. Craig Anderson will get his first start as a Senator so he will look to impress the GM and coach. The Leafs will counter with James Reimer who appears to be the only healthy goalie on the roster, Ben Scrivens will back-up. The Leafs should be able to win this one and continue their second half surge into 8th place in the East.
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