Blue And White Beat: Muskoka Five era ends with Kaberle trade

Blue And White Beat: Muskoka Five era ends with Kaberle trade

You remember the “Muskoka Five” don’t you?

They were the most widely discussed quintet to reside in Ontario since five daughters were born to a family named Dionne, in Callander.

Mats Sundin, Bryan McCabe, Darcy Tucker, Pavel Kubina and Tomas Kaberle were all roster players for the Leafs at the 2008 NHL trade deadline. With all of them having no-trade clauses in their contracts, the group came to epitomize the ineptitude of then-general manager John Ferguson Jr.

Kaberle represents the last link to that group. To put the overhaul of the Leafs roster of the past three years into perspective, consider that Nikolai Kulemin didn’t play an NHL game until the following season: 2008-09. Today, he is the longest tenured Toronto player with 209 games under his belt.

Prior to yesterday, the Leafs returns for those assets had been marginal to disastrous:

• Sundin was lost to unrestricted free agency, eventually signing with Vancouver
• McCabe was dealt to Florida along with a fourth-round pick for Mike Van Ryn. When a guy is injured more often than Carlo Colaiacovo, you’re in trouble.
• Kubina along with Tim Stapleton were shipped to Atlanta for Garnet Exelby and shortly-tenured Leaf Colin Stuart (packaged to Calgary four weeks later in a deal for Wayne Primeau). To be fair, this deal can’t be evaluated solely on the assets exchanged as it was a salary dump so that the Leafs could clear cap space to go after Francois Beauchemin, who they eventually signed.
• Darcy Tucker was bought out for the remainder of his contract, or $6 million paid out over a six-year term to not play for Toronto. There’s a new twist on Lotto 6/49’s “Imagine The Freedom” tag line.

None of the players were able to be moved at their peak value.

Not even Kaberle extracted the highest return that the Leafs could have gotten; think back to 2008 when Flyers forward Jeff Carter and a first-round pick were offered in return for the savvy puck-moving blueliner only to have Kaberle to exercise his no-trade option.

Nevertheless, it was the player’s prerogative, so this column won’t rush to be judgmental.

Instead, congratulations go out to Kaberle on the opportunity to play in the playoffs for the first time in six NHL seasons. The Bruins probably won’t win the Cup, but they should make it to at least the second round, when Kaberle last suited up in a playoff game before the Flyers’ Jeremy Roenick ended the Leafs season in overtime in 2004.

Credit also goes to Brian Burke for acquiring – at the minimum – a first-round pick and a prospect for Kaberle.

The first round pick isn’t as high as either of the two that Toronto surrendered as part of the Kessel trade. And 21-year-old defenceman Joe Colborne may never excel at his position to the extent that Carter does at his.

But when you compare the return for Kaberle against what the Leafs got for any of the other members of the Muskoka Five, you have to be at least content, if you are a Toronto fan.

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Colborne couldn’t make it to Toronto in time for Friday night’s Marlies game against Hamilton, but he did address a small group of reporters at Ricoh Coliseum afterwards. I asked him what he remembers about his former University of Denver teammate Tyler Bozak:

“We got to be linemates for most of my first year and he’s such a prolific player and great skater and I love playing with him,” said Colborne. “We’ve been talking about three or four times a day. He’s just been giving me tips and he’s so excited. I’m looking forward to meeting up with him again and maybe being a linemate with him in the future.”

Link: Colborne’s introduction to the Toronto media

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I still have the ticket stub from Kaberle’s first game in the NHL, a 2-1 win for Toronto over Detroit at Maple Leaf Gardens on opening night in 1998. There were also two debuts that night; Pat Quinn behind the Leafs bench and Curtis Joseph in goal.

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