Tomas Kaberle Review

As a life long leaf fan I just knew I had to have Tomas on the squad. When the set dropped last night I went a little crazy on the packs and the collectibles market and made him for an amount of money and coins I'm not really comfortable sharing with everyone hahha

Shooting 8?/10 As any leaf fan would know it's pretty laughable that his synergy is wicked wrister. For years the whole building would yell 'Shoot' while Kaberle had the puck on the power play so for all intents and purposes I will never be shooting the puck with him ever. It's just the principle of the thing.

Skating 10/10 I have never used Bure or this new Datsyuk but I imagine Kaberle feels a lot like them. It is an easy effortless stride and he absolutely just walks around people at will

Hands 9.5/10 Silky smooth mits that combined with his skating make it easy to exit the zone or enter the opponents zone. Sometimes it felt like the puck was taped to his stick. Kaberle also tracks the puck in his zone better than any d-man I have used. It just seems so easy with him.

Passing 10/10 I never thought anyone would supplant Rob 'Stud' Blake at LD1 on my team but as soon as I got Kaberle I slotted him in there and haven't looked back. I'm pretty sure Victor Hedman has enjoyed his best streak on my team with Kaberle as his partner. Every d to d pass has resulted in a goal and you don't even really have to worry if your opponent is cheating to take it away. Tomas will find a way to get it through.

Checking 8?/10 Again not much of a physical specimen listed at 6'1 and 214 so I have def not attempted many body checks with Kaberle at all. His partner MOV Hedman takes care of the hitting in this partnership

Defence 10/10 This is by far the most lethal poke check I have used all year. I'm not even scared of leaving myself out of position going for pokes around centre ice cause it's almost as if he cannot miss. More times that not the poke is right to a teammate or Tomas picks it up with those silky mits and we are going the other way

Conclusion 9.5/10

I have been rocking Blake for a a while (second legend I built after Sittler) and I never thought any other dman would surpass him. I was wrong. Kaberle is 94 but he is clearly better than Blake/MacInnis/Wilson who I have been rocking for most of he year. I might be totally biased cause I'm a pretty big leaf homer but I would highly recommend Kaberle for those who can afford him. Also hoping for one of those deep dives on his stats to see if the 94 rating is a little low

Thanks for reading J Ross