Kaberle will waive no-trade clause if asked by Leafs

MONTREAL - A year after he refused to be dealt at the trade deadline, Tomas Kaberle said that he would agree to move on if management asked him.

The Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, added that he hoped to stay with the team that drafted him 13 years ago. But if he is not in the long-term plans, he said would accept a change of scenery.

"Obviously, I want to stay here and be a Maple Leaf," Kaberle said prior to Thursday night's game against the Montreal Canadiens. "But if (Leafs general manager) Brian Burke comes to me and he doesn't want me on the team any more, than obviously it would be a different story.

"If someone doesn't want you on the team, then you don't want to stay obviously. I love to play for the Maple Leafs. I'll always want to."

Kaberle, who was selected 204th overall in 1996, has blossomed into one of the Leafs' top players. The puck-moving rearguard, who has 25 points this season, was named Thursday to his fourth all-star game.

But with the team in a rebuilding stage, the 31-year-old might be seen as a valuable asset on the trade market.

Last season, it was reported Kaberle nixed a deal that would have sent him to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Jeff Carter, as well as a first-round draft choice. Now that Carter is tied for first in the league with 27 goals, the Flyers are probably thankful for that.

Kaberle is not the only Toronto player who might finish the season in another jersey. In the last few weeks, Nik Antropov, Dominic Moore, Vesa Toskala and Pavel Kubina, who has a no-movement clause, have all been mentioned in trade rumours.

Burke, who acquired veteran Brad May on Wednesday, has not indicated whether he would move Kaberle or any other player, but it's no secret that Toronto, which currently does not have selections in the second or fourth rounds in the June draft, needs to stockpile draft picks.

Still, Kaberle would prefer to continue growing with the team.

"I think we have lots of young kids here, and they've been showing a lot in the first half of the season," he said. "They have a lot of good seasons ahead of them. Obviously, it's not something that's going to happen overnight. And I hope I'm part of the rebuilding."

The Leafs headed into Thursday night's game in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. Though fans might be hoping for Toronto to drop further in the standings - and conversely higher in the draft - the team was still only seven points out of a playoff spot as it entered the midway point of the season.

"We just want to make the playoffs," Kaberle said. "That's the key. We don't want to be in the bottom eight spots. We have a long way to go, for sure. I think we're seven points behind right now and we have to get on a roll to be on a playoff spot."