Boston Interested In Souray, But Would Rather Have Kaberle

With confirmation that Tambellini and Chiarelli have spoken at the NHL combine, many are wondering what was said between the two GM's. We do know as was confirmed by TSN that the conversation was interesting enough that the two are going to talk again shortly about swapping picks.

We have a source, who while not close to the Oilers GM or direct management, is close to the Oilers office and tends to overhear things from time to time. One of the things overheard was the name Sheldon Souray and that Boston might consider a trade that involves the disgruntled defenceman.

That's the good news. The bad news, is that this source also heard that Boston has more interest in Tomas Kaberle than they do Sheldon Souray. With confirmation from Brian Burke that Kaberle is an acceptable topic of conversation for Toronto, Chiarelli would like to explore that option first.

Boston is in a win now mode. They feel with the roster they have and their stars up for new contracts in the next two years, their window of opporunity is small. Tomas Kaberle with one year left on an acceptable salary cap contract fits into those plans exceptionally well.

Boston already showed interest in Kaberle at last years draft when the Kessel deal was large topic of conversation and didn't happen thanks to some confusion over a first round pick being included or not included by Toronto.

This year, if Chiarelli can move a prospect or his 1st round 15th overall draft pick to Toronto (which would be big to Burke since he has no pick in the first round), Chiarelli could still talk to Edmonton about swapping the first and second overall, while not taking on Souray's two year more steeply priced deal.

Boston can make room for Souray if another team makes a more attractive offer to the Leafs, such as Columbus might with the 4th overall pick in some kind of package deal, but the conversations are really starting to take shape now that the draft is a mere three weeks away and teams have had some of their final showings of this years draft prospects.

Meanwhile, the Oilers I'm told have no interest in Kaberle, unless he is willing to sign an extension. That's a big concern since there is still a year left and Toronto has received some interest in the email they sent regarding Kaberle by a number of teams.

Could the Oilers use a player like Kaberle? Yes. And my guess is they'd be willing to give Cogliano plus to get him, but not on a one year deal when Edmonton is clearly rebuilding. Any player coming in would have to be part of the future of this team, or an extremely inexpensive and temporary stop-gap.

I am still of the belief that the Oilers, if they could make a choice of all available free agent or tradeable defencmen, would like to talk to Dan Hamhuis' camp. The Oilers love this guy and see him as a possible cornerstone blueliner if he could be had at a decent price. That is, if Nashville doesn't negotiate a contract with him first, which I hear Nashville would like to do.