Lyle Richardson 

KABERLE TO DEVILS?

Speaking of the Leafs, Mike Brophy of Sportsnet.ca recently claimed he’d heard the New Jersey Devils contacted the Leafs about the availability of defenseman Tomas Kaberle. 

Brophy acknowledged the pledge by Leafs GM Brian Burke not to ask Kaberle to waive his “no-trade” clause during this season, but wondered if Burke would put pressure on the blueliner to do so if the Devils were to offer up a top-six forward. 

That’s unlikely now given the recent knee injury to Devils star left winger Zach Parise, but regardless of that there would have been a problem making the dollars fit.

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While the Leafs have more than $3.5 million in available cap space, the Devils are squeezed to the limit. In fact, the only way they’re staying cap compliant is because Brian Rolston and Bryce Salvador are on LTIR. 

The Devils would want to dump salary, not take on more. To comfortably fit in Kaberle’s $4.25 million for this season they’d have to move at least $5 million out in order to absorb his salary and still leave some breathing space under the cap. 

And it won’t change if Parise goes on LTIR as Rolston and Salvador are expected to return to the Devils lineup in the coming weeks.

IGINLA A KING?

The Los Angeles Kings failed in their efforts last season and summer to land scoring winger Ilya Kovalchuk, but given their cap space it’s believed they’ll remain in the market for a veteran scoring forward by the Feb. 28 trade deadline. 

ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun suggested one possibility is Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla, based upon reports last week out of Calgary suggesting a possible rift between Iginla and coach Brent Sutter.

Iginla and Sutter both denied the rift rumors and LeBrun pointed out Iginla - with a $7 million per season salary and a “no-movement” clause - controls his destiny. 

This isn’t the first time talk of an Iginla trade popped up, as the local media raised the issue in the days following the end of last season, when the Flames missed the playoffs for the first time since 2003. 

Iginla rejected that speculation then and as LeBrun pointed out there’s no indication now the Flames would consider moving him. 

Still, if the Flames are struggling to make the playoffs by mid-season it could inspire more media-generated Iginla trade rumors.