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Time ticks away on Tomas Kaberle’s trading window

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Our summer of free agency started and still continues with the Ilya Kovalchuk saga, but in the meantime, for just this weekend, we’ve got the Tomas Kaberle saga and tomorrow could see things come to a head with he and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs have until midnight tomorrow to work a trade for the talented defenseman or else they’ll see his no-trade clause go back into effect for the rest of the season. So how are things shaping up on the trade front with just about a day left to get a deal done? They’re not really shaping up at all but people are talking about things nonetheless.

One team that has been rumored to be interested since the get-go this summer is Columbus and The Columbus Dispatch’s Tom Reed got caught up on what the Blue Jackets’ interest is at the moment.

Yes, Kaberle is a power-play quarterback, and the Leafs power play was awful. But look at that lineup. There’s a reason Burke is looking for impact forwards.

How much does a club in a non-traditional market, with scant playoff history, surrender for a player who has only one year remaining on his deal? It’s a tough question. I think Kaberle-to-Columbus remains a long shot, but it makes for an intriguing weekend.

So count the Blue Jackets in as long shots unless something completely out of left field happens and they knock Brian Burke over with an offer. As for what Brian Burke may or may not be doing, ESPN’s Scott Burnside tweeted something of note today about that.

Toronto GM Brian Burke tells us looking more likely that Tomas Kaberle will remain a Leaf. Could change before midnight Sun. Of course.

Just a game of chicken right now for Brian Burke. It’s clear that he’s gotten offers for Kaberle, the seriousness of which we just don’t know right now. Instead of tipping his hand as to what he’ll do, Burke will instead reiterate what he’s said from the beginning in that he doesn’t have to move Kaberle at all. While that’s true, the possibility of losing Kaberle at the end of the season and getting nothing but his salary off the books in return doesn’t really make for great consolation. If anything goes down at all between now and midnight tomorrow it’ll be fascinating to see how Brian Burke’s game of chicken turns out.