Tomas Kaberle needs to step up to the microphone and speak for himself. Rick Curran, Kaberle's agent, complained publicly about the way Brian Burke has put his client in the spotlight during the limited window of opportunity in which his contract allows for Tomas to be moved. Days later, Kaberle's father hardly fell short of requesting a trade on his son's behalf. Rationally thinking, here are a few possibilities as to what may have happened here.
First, it's possible that Tomas was poorly represented by his agent. Perhaps Rick Curran spoke out of turn and expressed his own frustration towards the situation as if he were relaying the message from his client. One should suppose it is possible that Curran was more frustrated than Kaberle during the time his client's name was all over every major hockey website and publication.
Secondly, you could consider that Tomas' father ran his mouth when he shouldn't have under the assumption that his interview would never make it all the way to Toronto, the mecca of hockey. This seems less likely, as it would seem more than probable that he has been to Toronto, spoken to his son regarding his employment, and understands what hockey means to the city.
Thirdly, it's possible that Tomas never wished to be traded initially, but once the circus started he became frustrated with Toronto, expressed his discontent to Rick Curran who made the statement public, the message was published, but Tomas was never traded, and now that he's still a Leaf perhaps he doesn't want to be. Perhaps he encouraged his father to make the statement on his behalf knowing full well the kind of buzz it would generate in the world of hockey.
At the end of the day, all we can truly do is speculate until Tomas, like Marc Savard or Jason Spezza, issues a public statement expressing his honest emotions in a professional manner. I'm sure he has had dialogue with Brian Burke by this point in time, I'm sure Ron Wilson is well aware of the status of their relationship. With that said, if Tomas is truly unsettled by all of the speculation about being traded, if he is sincerely bothered about his image being tainted by the media over the recent weeks, he should rectify the situation by addressing the public and take the weight off his shoulders.
- Chris McCluskey (
[email protected])
Cambridge, Ontario