Trade # 3: New Jersey and Toronto

New Jersey trades David Clarkson, Matt Halischuk, 2009 1st round pick, 2009 2nd round pick and 2010 2nd round pick to Toronto for Tomas Kaberle and Jamal Mayers.

Reason: New Jersey is looking more and more like the team to beat in the East. The superstar emergence of Zach Parise, the offensive support of Elias, Zajac, Langenbrunner and Rolston, and the return of a well-rested Martin Brodeur has Brent Sutter's boys looking like the beast in the east (honourable mention to the Bruins). Their only weak spot? Paul Martin as their top puck-moving Dman. The Devils need an elite puck-possession Dman to get the puck to their speedy forwards. Kabs can also play upwards of 30 minutes a game and be the horse that Sutter needs. With defensive specialists like White, Oduya and Salvador, Kaberle's defensive shortcomings should be masked in the New Jersey system.

Brian Burke is looking to hit a home-run in his first deadline with the Leafs and the only way he does that is by moving his top asset.  Clarkson is a Burke-type player, tough and can skate, and will quickly become a fan-favourite in Toronto. Halischuk is another Burke prospect with good speed and a lot of heart (you may remember him scoring the winning goal in overtime against Sweden in the 2007 WJC Gold Medal game). Not overly big but uses his body well. The key for Toronto are the picks. The Leafs have traded a lot of their picks over the next few years and Burke's number one mission was to get those picks back. He gets two high picks in this year's deep draft and recoups the 2010 2nd rounder Toronto traded to Montreal for Mikhail Grabovski. Burke has said all along that he would not move Kaberle unless he gets blown away, but the size, youth and draft picks from New Jersey gets the deal done.

Some may think New Jersey is giving up too much in the way of draft picks in this deal but Halischuk is not the high-end prospect that Burke is looking for so the picks become a bigger part of the deal.

Salary Cap Implications: New Jersey is currently $2 million under the cap and can afford to take on Kaberle's remaining modest contract while Mayer's and Clarkson almost cancel each other out. 

 

Fantasy Spin: Kaberle should finish very strong quarterbacking a talented NJ powerplay. Look for him to finish with about 15 points in the last 18 games for the Devils. Next year he should be back up to 60+ points (career high is 67 in 05-06) as the Devils will remain a top team for the next few years. This makes Kaberle a top 10 Dman again...something he hasn't been with Toronto over the past few years.

Mayers will be a useful checker for the Devils but provide minimal fantasy value. 

Clarkson will see a slight increase in TOI in Toronto and could finish with 20 goals and 35 points. He will also be eager to drop the mitts to impress his new boss so PIMS could raise slightly. Clarkson could be a 20-25 goal scorer with 45 points and 100+ PIMS next year for Toronto making him quite valuable in leagues that reward PIMs.