Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch reports the Blue Jackets declined an offer from Carolina to acquire defenseman Tomas Kaberle and a second-round pick in exchange for disgruntled center Derick Brassard.
Why deny the deal, you ask?
“Kaberle’s play has dropped in recent seasons,” Portzline wrote. “And he’s got two more years at $1 million more than Brassard.
“Simply put: [Jackets GM Scott] Howson thinks he can do better.”
Or, Howson just doesn’t want Kaberle.
It’s too bad the deal didn’t go down, as it’d be a great disaster-for-disaster swap -- kinda like trading New Coke for Crystal Pepsi. But knowing Columbus balked gives you an idea of Kaberle’s current market value.
(Translation: It ain’t much.)
Ten months ago, Kaberle’s acquisition price was Joe Colborne, a first-round pick and a second-round pick (because Boston won the Cup.) Five months ago, he signed a three-year, $12.75-million deal with the ‘Canes. Now he’s being turned down for a guy that’s been a healthy scratch seven times (with No. 8 coming tonight) and a second-round pick. At this point it wouldn’t surprise me if Kaberle gets traded for future considerations, or a bag of day-old bagels.
That said, this isn’t all Kaberle’s fault -- some of this falls at the feet of ‘Canes GM Jim Rutherford. Generally speaking, the best way to shop a guy isn’t to go on XM Radio and publicly blast him.