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Four teams reportedly seriously interested in Tomas Kaberle

Dion Phaneuf, Tomas Kaberle

Toronto Maple Leafs’ Dion Phaneuf, left, and Tomas Kaberle skate off the ice as San Jose Sharks celebrate a 3-2 win in an NHL hockey game in Toronto on Monday, Feb. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

AP

Brian Burke’s platter is going to be full today. With today being the last day he’s got to try and trade defenseman Tomas Kaberle, it’s looking like he’ll be going down to the wire at midnight tonight to try and send Kaberle packing elsewhere and free the Maple Leafs of his $4.25 million salary this year. As it turns out, Brian Burke had a lot to sleep on overnight as Lance Hornby of the Ottawa Sun tells us.

“I’d say there are three or four legitimate offers we needed to discuss,” Burke told QMI Agency. “There’s nothing worth taking - yet. If we end up with Kaberle (whose no-trade clause expires at midnight) that’s fine with me.”

Well, not exactly, given the preparations Toronto made to move on from Kaberle and get tougher on defence at the risk of losing his points.

Everyone, Kaberle included, expects a trade. Burke gave the process a huge push this week, letting it be known he’s adjusted - many would use to the term lowered - his sights to take a deal for a draft pick and/or a prospect, rather than the top-six forward he wanted to spur playoff chances.

It’d be fun to hear who these four teams are. Of course, if speculation is to be believed, Burke’s potential list of teams has gotten a healthy cut down as just a week ago there were supposedly seven teams in hunt for Kaberle. The big question is: Will he be traded? I’m going out on a limb and saying he will be traded.

Prime defensemen are a rarity and while many folks are going to judge Tomas Kaberle based on the numbers he’s put up in Toronto on very poor Maple Leafs teams it still doesn’t take away from him being one of the better ones you can have on your team. He’s an instant asset for a team looking for a power play quarterback and he’s proven he can score.

Ideally, Burke wants a scorer he can plug in right away in return, but if he gets a package of picks or a useful prospect I think he bites the bullet and goes for it because getting something in return for a guy that’s bound to leave via free agency will ultimately be more important. While he could wait things out until the trade deadline, who knows what the market will be then and who will have needs to be addressed.

Today could be interesting though. Stick around here and we’ll keep you up to date on everything.