A Changing Of The Guard

Bruins fans have seen the last of Tomas Kaberle in Black and Gold. The free agent defenseman left Boston on Tuesday to sign a three-year, $12.75 million deal with the Carolina Hurricanes. 

If the Boston Bruins are to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions next season, they'll have to do so without Tomas Kaberle.

In a move widely regarded as inevitable, Kaberle officially left the Bruins on Tuesday, signing a three-year, $12.75 million deal with the Carolina Hurricanes. 

If you remember correctly, GM Peter Chiarelli gave up the farm to acquire the veteran defenseman from the Maple Leafs at the deadline last season, surrendering prized prospect Joe Colborne as well as a first round pick in 2011 and a second round pick in 2012.

At the time, Kaberle was viewed as the missing link on an otherwise dominant hockey club with very few flaws.

In theory, he provided the team a dynamic they desperately needed, something made glaringly clear with the offseason dismissal of Dennis Wideman: a puck moving defenseman who could help the team transition the puck and quarterback the power play. 

However, although Kaberle helped the Bruins hoist their first Stanley Cup in 39 years, his overall performance wearing the Black and Gold was uneventful. 

Known for his offensive skills, Kaberle scored just nine points (one goal, eight assists) in 24 regular season games for Boston after being traded from Toronto. He was slightly better in the playoffs (11 points in 25 games), but still not nearly good enough to justify management devoting an excess of four million dollars a year to for multiple years. 

At 33-years-old, Kaberle remains a gifted defenseman. As Bruins fans witnessed firsthand, he was a flawless skater and made excellent break out passes near the neutral zone. 

However, as Bruins fans also learned, Kaberle always seemed hesitant to shoot the puck. Time after time he passed up wide open shots at the net in exchange for more difficult cross-ice feeds or cute touch passes to a teammate.

Simply put, he passed to a fault. 

In the playoffs we even saw teams key on Zdeno Chara's slapper during a power play simply because they knew Kaberle wouldn't pull the trigger. 

Kaberle also played below average defense and shied away from the physical side of the game.  

Wasting little time to find his replacement, Chiarelli acquired 34-year-old Joe Corvo from the Hurricanes later in the day in exchange for a fourth round pick in 2012. 

"This came as a real surprise to me, and a very pleasant surprise," Corvo said. "I'm very happy to be with a team coming off such a successful season and not making many changes at all. At this point in my career, I'm just excited for the opportunity to win and the chance to win, and couldn't be happier."

The move could end up benefiting the Bruins immensely. 

First off, Corvo is a more than adequate replacement along the blue line. 

Like Kaberle, he is an offensive-minded defenseman who skates well, moves the puck and quarterbacks the power play. He tallied 11 goals and 29 assists last season while averaging a whopping 24:46 of ice time.

However, unlike Kaberle, he is a right-handed shot, more of a physical presence, tough (played in all 82 games last season) and has a booming slapshot that he's not afraid to unleash on goaltenders. Last season Corvo landed 191 shots on goal as opposed to 131 by Kaberle. 

"He's someone we've talked about the last little bit as we've progressed on some of these free agent signings," Chiarelli said of Corvo. "You go past the free agency date, the first few days, and you look at possible trades if you're not satisfied with what you've accomplished in free agency."

"Joe became available when we couldn't reach terms with Tomas Kaberle, and we felt strong about Joe as a player."

In addition, Corvo is in the final year of a two-year pact paying him $2.25 million annually, which is nearly half of what the Bruins would have had to pay to keep Kaberle.

The salary cap relief should help aid the process of inking playoff hero Brad Marchand to a long term deal. 

In the end, the Corvo for Kaberle swap represents yet another impressive move by management to remain fiscally flexible and successful on the ice. 

Now let's hope Joe Colborne doesn't turn into the next Cam Neely.