Pavel Kubina retires

[CarltonTheBear]

http://www.nhlpa.com/news/pavel-kubina-retires-from-nhl-after-13-seasons

On July 1, 2006, Kubina signed with the Maple Leafs as an unrestricted free-agent. He set career marks in points (40) and matched his best in game-winning goals (4) in each of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons in Toronto. He led all Leafs defencemen in goals (14) in 2007-08, while he also accomplished a unique feat by scoring the game-winning goals on back-to-back days (March 11 & 12, 2008). In 2008-09, Kubina scored a career-high nine powerplay goals ? tops among all Leafs defencemen ? and played in all 82 games. Over the three seasons he played for the Maple Leafs, he averaged totals of nearly 34 points and over 22 minutes played to go along with close to 11 goals and 23 assists in nearly 72 games each season.

?Pavel was one of the best defencemen I played with during my NHL career. More importantly he was a great teammate and friend. I will always care about Pavel as one of my best friends,? said Mats Sundin, NHL veteran of 18 seasons.

Trading Kubina for Exelby and using the gained cap space to sign Komisarek might have been the worst move Burke ever made as the Leafs GM. I never really thought of this before, but it's pretty much the exact same mistake Nonis has made with Grabovski/Clarkson.

 

[cabber24]

[/quote]

Trading Kubina for Exelby and using the gained cap space to sign Komisarek might have been the worst move Burke ever made as the Leafs GM.
[/quote]

I suppose if they kept Kubina they would have won the Stanley Cup... who cares.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I suppose if they kept Kubina they would have won the Stanley Cup... who cares.

Well seeing as how we only got out from under the Komisarek contract this season, and had to use a valuable amnesty buy-out to do so, we all should.

 

[cabber24]

I suppose if they kept Kubina they would have won the Stanley Cup... who cares.

Well seeing as how we only got out from under the Komisarek contract this season, and had to use a valuable amnesty buy-out to do so, we all should.

I guess you could make a case to use an amnesty buy-out on Liles. I cannot think of anyone else they would want to use it on unless they traded for a bad contract with the intent to use it.

 

[Joe S.]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283448

If anybody feels like a walk down memory lane then check out the comments.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283448

If anybody feels like a walk down memory lane then check out the comments.

Yup. I remember even at the time people thought it was an awful deal value-wise. But some tried to justify  it afterward because they thought the money was better spent on Komisarek. Heck, I actually thought the Komi contract was pretty good when it was signed.

edit: Yikes, I just clicked page 2. Some people had high hopes for Exelby haha

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283448

If anybody feels like a walk down memory lane then check out the comments.

On a TSN.ca article?  I'll just slam my head on my desk instead.

 

[Kin]

Trading Kubina for Exelby and using the gained cap space to sign Komisarek might have been the worst move Burke ever made as the Leafs GM.

If you're inclined to look at it that way anyways although there's no reason to suggest that Komisarek and not, say, Beauchemin got that money.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

If you're inclined to look at it that way anyways although there's no reason to suggest that Komisarek and not, say, Beauchemin got that money.

Kubina was traded hours before Komisarek signed his contract. Beauchemin didn't sign for another week. Kubina's cap figure was much closer to Komisarek's than it was to Beau's. Kubina was the teams #2 RD and was paired with Kaberle, Komisarek became the teams #2 RD and was paired with Kaberle while Beauchemin started as the teams #1 LD with Phaneuf.

 

[Kin]

Kubina was traded hours before Komisarek signed his contract. Beauchemin didn't sign for another week. Kubina's cap figure was much closer to Komisarek's than it was to Beau's. Kubina was the teams #2 RD and was paired with Kaberle, Komisarek became the teams #2 RD and was paired with Kaberle while Beauchemin started as the teams #1 LD with Phaneuf.

Sure, but that the Komisarek deal was already being negotiated/agreed upon speaks to the fact that they had the money to do it anyway. The Beauchemin deal is the one that likely doesn't happen if they couldn't trade Kubina.

 

[Joe S.]

wasn't Kubina decried as one of the 'muskoka 5'? (that whole moniker irritated me to no end)

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Sure, but that the Komisarek deal was already being negotiated/agreed upon speaks to the fact that they had the money to do it anyway. The Beauchemin deal is the one that likely doesn't happen if they couldn't trade Kubina.

The Komisarek deal wasn't announced until 4-5 hours after the Kubina trade, so I don't think it would be insane to suggest that they had to clear out Kubina's cap hit before being able to make Komisarek's deal official.

Even regardless of the salary cap implications, my basic point was that Burke chose Komisarek over Kubina to fill the #2 RD spot on the team. History showed that was a pretty big mistake.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

wasn't Kubina decried as one of the 'muskoka 5'? (that whole moniker irritated me to no end)

Him, Sundin, McCable, Kaberle, and Tucker. Right?

 

[Kin]

The Komisarek deal wasn't announced until 4-5 hours after the Kubina trade, so I don't think it would be insane to suggest that they had to clear out Kubina's cap hit before being able to make Komisarek's deal official.

Even regardless of the salary cap implications, my basic point was that Burke chose Komisarek over Kubina to fill the #2 RD spot on the team. History showed that was a pretty big mistake.

You've got your time frame a little confused. Beauchemin didn't open the season with Phaneuf, the Phaneuf trade didn't happen until January(or early February) of that year.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

You've got your time frame a little confused. Beauchemin didn't open the season with Phaneuf, the Phaneuf trade didn't happen until January(or early February) of that year.

Whoops. Don't think that changes my overall point though. The season prior to the move the teams top pairing was Kaberle-Kubina. When Komisarek and Beauchemin showed up the top pairing was Kaberle-Komisarek. Komisarek was still brought in to replace Kubina in the line-up.

Either way, it's not like I'm making this up just now. The Kubina and Komisarek transactions have been linked by both the media and fans since the day they occurred. If you don't want to look at it that way that's fine. There's enough evidence out there to make me buy it.

 

[Kin]

Whoops. Don't think that changes my overall point though. The season prior to the move the teams top pairing was Kaberle-Kubina. When Komisarek and Beauchemin showed up the top pairing was Kaberle-Komisarek. Komisarek was still brought in to replace Kubina in the line-up.

But I think that's evidence of the fact that Burke very much wanted to go in a different direction which included bringing in Komisarek who he felt would be a better fit with Kabs at ES and then Beauchemin to play with Kabs on the PP. The move from Kubina to Beauchemin/Komisarek is probably better described as a move to enhance the depth overall at the position and I think that's probably a more accurate reflection of the decision making process than Burke choosing Komisarek over Kubina.

Either way, it's not like I'm making this up just now. The Kubina and Komisarek transactions have been linked by both the media and fans since the day they occurred.

But fans and media often favour the most convenient narrative over the one that the facts support(Buying out Grabo for Clarkson is a recent one when it's pretty clear that Grabo was gone regardless). I'm not a Burke fan so I'm not interested in defending him too much, I just think the moves can be looked at separately.

 

[Bullfrog]

Exelby.

What a horrible trade.

 

[mr grieves]

Either way, it's not like I'm making this up just now. The Kubina and Komisarek transactions have been linked by both the media and fans since the day they occurred.

But fans and media often favour the most convenient narrative over the one that the facts support(Buying out Grabo for Clarkson is a recent one when it's pretty clear that Grabo was gone regardless). I'm not a Burke fan so I'm not interested in defending him too much, I just think the moves can be looked at separately.

Ever waging war on traditional narrative history. In some ways, it's admirable. In other ways... well, the Leafs would've been a better team with Kubina instead of Komisarek, would be with Grabovski instead of Clarkson. If the causal explanation is a bit forced, does it really matter when that's the case?

 

[Kin]

Ever waging war on traditional narrative history. In some ways, it's admirable. In other ways... well, the Leafs would've been a better team with Kubina instead of Komisarek, would be with Grabovski instead of Clarkson. If the causal explanation is a bit forced, does it really matter when that's the case?

Well, if nothing else it's unnecessary. The Komisarek signing and the Clarkson signing certainly were and seem to be bad enough that we don't need to try and make them appear worse by grafting on other things that the facts don't really support. Especially when those things(the Kubina trade, the Grabo buy-out) are defensible when viewed in isolation.

 

[Britishbulldog]

Exelby.

What a horrible trade.

It wasn't quite Courtnall for Kordic but it sure smelled the same.  This was a clear example of Burke still being in the dark ages when the rest of the league had moved on.

I think Burke felt it was going to be:

Kaberle / Komisarek
Phaneuf / Schenn
Exelby-Gunnarsson / Beauchemin

On paper it looked like toughness and some offensive skill on each pairing.

Exelby seemed like a hard hitter who was a solid fighter.  Unfortunately Exelby took on too many heavyweights and got concussed too many times.

His 1st fight in the NHL caught tough guy Dwyer by surprise...as well as the French announcers who got rather quiet towards the end of the clip:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J5X0cQIGXc[/youtube]