By Steve Farnham, Associate Editor, All Habs Hockey Magazine
MONTREAL, QC. – With the news that Montreal Canadiens’ General Manager, Marc Bergevin has notified 35-year old defenseman, Tomas Kaberle that he will be the team’s second and final compliance buyout, we take a moment to remember Tomas Kaberle, for the time he spent with the Habs.
Even though Kaberle will always be known as an ex-Leafs’ player, he was traded from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Canadiens on December 9, 2011, in a move that sent Jaroslav Spacek the other way, made Hurricanes’ General Manager, Jim Rutherford look like a genius for getting rid of Kaberle’s $4.25 million annual cap-hit, and made then Canadiens’ General Manager, Pierre Gauthier appear to some as having just been fooled, like that person who picks an injured player for their playoff hockey pool and becomes the laughing stock for all.
It goes without saying; the move was unpopular from the start with both fans and media seeing Kaberle as a development stopper for the younger defensemen in the system. The fact Kaberle was on the hook for two additional seasons with a $4.25 million annual cap-hit did nothing to help push away that thinking.
Nonetheless, Kaberle wasn’t awful with the Canadiens, even if often criticized. He managed to pick up close to a point every two games (25 points in 53 games) during his stay with the Habs, but it was clear this season that Bergevin intended to buy him out, having been a healthy scratch for the better part of the season. You know your time is up when Davis Drewiske is playing ahead of you.
So even if for his entire stay with the Habs, many hoped and dreamed that he would eventually be traded (or claimed when put on waivers in March 2013), there are still many good reasons to remember Kaberle’s stay with the Canadiens, so let’s take a few minutes to do that.
Here, Tomas Kaberle’s scores his first goal with the Canadiens, assisted by none other than superstar forward, Travis Moen who could have been another potential buyout suspect for Bergevin.
Even though this last goal encompassed 33.3 per cent of Kaberle’s scoring production while he was with the Canadiens, one of my favourite moments (sadly) has to be one of his injuries and the rumors surrounding how he was injured to begin with.
This happened in March of 2012, and it all began with reports that Kaberle had missed a Canadiens’ practice to be at the side of his girlfriend, Julie who was giving birth to their first child. All normal up to here. What followed was announcement from the Canadiens that Kaberle had been added to the injury list, now suffering from an upper-body injury. Whether his first-born, Lukas had been the cause of his injury, we still don’t know to this day.
Finally, Kaberle’s greatest moment with the Canadiens has to be when he was paired with hard-hitting defenseman, Alexei Emelin who at the time was knocking more opponent’s onto their rears than we had seen a Canadiens’ defenseman do in quite some time.
Emelin had already been fan-baptized as the blueline “Boom”, so it didn’t take long for our very own @habsgirl4life to add Kaberle’s “KA” to the “Boom” and a new defensive pair nickname was born.
“Ka-Boom” even got its own video; congratulations Tomas Kaberle.
Thanks for the memories, Kaberle.
Photo: Olivier Pontbriand, La Presse
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