Tomáš Kaberle retires

[Dazed and Confused]

Never understood how his play deteriorated so fast. Never really thought to compare them before, but man, he and Redden were really similar in career path and even style. Smooth skating defenceman with outstanding passing, who falls off a cliff early for no reason.

 

[kudymen]

ill be honest, i thought he was already retired.

same here

To be honest, I was thinking about introducing the thread with a "In today's edition of 'What in the world happened to XY'," but being Czech I was exposed to him a bit more and threw the idea away

 

[Warden of the North]

Never understood how his play deteriorated so fast. Never really thought to compare them before, but man, he and Redden were really similar in career path and even style. Smooth skating defenceman with outstanding passing, who falls off a cliff early for no reason.

He was never the same after the Can Jansson hit. Dirty, dirty hit.

 

[beowulf]

Sadly his time in Montreal was far from great but have a good retirement!

 

[member 157595]

Even though he never shot the damn puck he was really, really good in his prime. Blew McCabe and his "We'll sit out the rest of our lives if there's a hard cap" awful contract out of the water.

Does anyone have that funny picture of him as a Bruin avoiding/ignoring a goal celebration?

 

[SenzZen]

Even though he never shot the damn puck he was really, really good in his prime. Blew McCabe and his "We'll sit out the rest of our lives if there's a hard cap" awful contract out of the water.

Does anyone have that funny picture of him as a Bruin avoiding/ignoring a goal celebration?

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

He was never the same after the Can Jansson hit. Dirty, dirty hit.

Still remains one of the dirtiest plays I've ever seen.

About three seconds late, away from the play...just a completely ****ing gutless hit. Kaberle was about half as effective for the rest of his career.

 

[FerrisRox]

Best Czech D of all time?

Pretty crazy how Czech doesn't seem to have any decent D noe when just 7-10 years ago they would have had a pretty good line up with prime or near-prime Kaberle, Hamrlik, Roszival, Zidlicky, Kubina

Personally I would definitely rank Roman Hamrlik ahead of Tomas Kaberle, and by a pretty fair margin.

 

[FerrisRox]

Bryan McCabe??

You're a Leaf fan saying that?!?

Kaberle was considerably better than Bryan McCabe!

 

[BenchBrawl]

Best Czech D of all time?

Pretty crazy how Czech doesn't seem to have any decent D noe when just 7-10 years ago they would have had a pretty good line up with prime or near-prime Kaberle, Hamrlik, Roszival, Zidlicky, Kubina

Unless I'm somehow missing someone obvious, I say Jan Suchy and Frantisek Pospisil are toe to toe competing for that title.They were far better than Kaberle.

That being said, congrats to Kaberle on a good career.He was very good in Toronto.

 

[LeafFever]

He was never the same after the Can Jansson hit. Dirty, dirty hit.

Yup. completely different player after the hit. He was at his peak at the time.

 

[LeafFever]

You're a Leaf fan saying that?!?

Kaberle was considerably better than Bryan McCabe!

Eh, McCabe was very underrated. the criticism went laughably over-the-top.

 

[Pocket Hercules]

Eh, McCabe was very underrated. the criticism went laughably over-the-top.

He was always a lethal threat on the PP, but McCabe was also equally good for at least 1 braincramp at night followed by something like this:

You think he would learn over time to stop baiting the refs into targeting him for borderline calls by incessantly complaining all the way to the box...you would think.

 

[Quarter]

Why can't two players succeed together without anybody claiming that X made Y? Why couldn't they have complimented each other so well that made each other? Could Kaberle and McCabe's [relative] success in Toronto really have been as simple as that? Two complimentary players?

Nah, because this is HF.

 

[Never]

How long was Gilmour in Montreal again? I'd say he's got Kaberle beat as far as "man he looks weird in that jersey".

Almost 2 full seasons.

 

[8816 others]

He was never the same after the Can Jansson hit. Dirty, dirty hit.

I can't recall if Janssen received any sort of punishment for that but I do remember how not a single Leaf went after Janssen even though he was ready for a show down. Tucker was livid but he wasn't dressed to play. I thought the Leafs would show some sort of push back but nothing really came of it.

 

[Alicat]

No Kaberle no Cup. He had some huge assists during the Cup run. Thank You Tomas!

 

[BatVader]

Hated him in Mtl. Was happy as hell when they got rid of him.
Honestly, though, I'm in the already thought he retired camp.

 

[Paris in Flames]

Critcism of McCabe is somewhat unfair and I don't think it was a matter of Kaberle making him (though he certainly helped) but McCabe really lost his effectiveness when the can opener started getting called.

 

[MLSE]

Why can't two players succeed together without anybody claiming that X made Y? Why couldn't they have complimented each other so well that made each other? Could Kaberle and McCabe's [relative] success in Toronto really have been as simple as that? Two complimentary players?

Nah, because this is HF.

Nah, its because Kaberle made McCabe better. Kaberle was pretty good with any dman next to him... McCabe was better with Kaberle next to him.

Also, f Cam Janssen

 

[JKG33]

For me when I think about Kaberle I'll mostly think of his Leaf days like most people. But I'll also remember when he was a Hab which was basically the weirdest thing to see. Kaberle in a Hab uniform was just not right.

The Habs stint was definitely weird. As a Leafs fan I enjoyed his time in Toronto, but I really wish we could remember him in a Flyers jersey instead.

For the unaware, he blocked a trade to Philadelphia for what would've been Jeff Carter and a 1st round pick.

 

[ES]

ill be honest, i thought he was already retired.

Seems like someone writes this every time a long-time European NHLer retires after playing his final year(s) in Europe.