The 33-year-old defenseman was traded from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Boston Bruins late last season and helped Boston win the Stanley Cup. However, he left the Bruins to sign with Carolina during the off season. He admittedly struggled so far this year and has nine assists in 29 games along with a -12 rating.
Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford publicly stated that he wasn’t happy with the way Kaberle was playing and said he needed to pick his game up if he wanted to stay with the club. Rutherford was sure Kaberle could help the club and he traded defenseman Joe Corvo to Boston after signing him. Rutherford said Kaberle didn’t come to training camp in good shape because he won the cup with Boston and celebrated most of the summer.
The Hurricanes struggled out of the gate though and coach Paul Maurice was fired about 25 games into the season and replaced with Kirk Muller. Kaberle started to play better after Rutherford’s statements and recorded four assists in his last two games with Carolina.
The 37-year-old Spacek has played in just 12 games this season and has recorded three assists along with a plus-two rating. However, he’s been out of action since Nov. 12 with an undisclosed upper-body injury. He’s also in the last year of his contract which sees him earn $3.8 million year.
Kaberle spent his first 11 and a half years in the league with Toronto before being traded to the Bruins for center Joe Colborne, a 2011 first-round draft pick and a second round selection in 2012. He was originally drafted in the eighth round in 1996 and widely regarded as Toronto’s best defenseman during his time with the Leafs.
At the time of the trade, Kaberle had played 931 regular season games and had scored 84 goals and 454 assists for 538 points along with 39 points in 102 playoff games. Spacek was drafted in the fifth round in 1998 by the Florida Panthers. In 846 regular season games with Florida, the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo Sabres, and Canadiens he has a total of 77 goals and 266 assists for 343 points. He also has 18 points in 61 playoff contests.
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