Tomas Kaberle

Tomáš Kaberle (born March 2, 1978) is a Czech professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). A four time NHL All-Star, Kaberle also plays for the Czech national ice hockey team and won a bronze medal with the team at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

His brother František, plays for the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes; their father, František, Sr. played for the Czechoslovakian national ice hockey team in the 1970s.

Playing career
Kaberle was drafted 204th in the 8th round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft by Toronto, and saw limited playing time in the 1998–99 NHL season. After being eased into the Leafs lineup, he saw a significant increase in playing time in order to help fill in the gap on the Leafs after an injury to Bryan Berard in the 1999–2000 NHL season. By the 2001–02 campaign, Kaberle had improved enough to be selected to the World team at the 2002 NHL All-Star game. Later that year, he was named to the Czech national ice hockey team for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Kaberle started the 2001–02 campaign as a restricted free agent without a contract, and ended up playing in the Czech Extraliga for HC Rabat Kladno while a new contract was negotiated. Ultimately, he signed a contract with the Leafs securing his services through 2005–06. On February 11, 2006, Tomáš Kaberle was re-signed to a five-year contract extension worth $21.25 million with a no-trade clause for the first three years of the contract, effective July 1, 2006. This deal locked him in until the end of the 2010–11 NHL season.

On October 28, 2006, he scored his first career hat-trick against the Montreal Canadiens. He also scored in his first shootout attempt that night. Kaberle was named as an Eastern Conference All-Star Game participant for the second time in his career on January 12, 2007.

During a March 2, 2007 game against the New Jersey Devils, Kaberle suffered a concussion, and was carried off the ice on a stretcher, as a result of a late hit to the head by Cam Janssen. After missing eight games, he returned to the Leafs lineup on March 23.

Although Kaberle has scored relatively few goals, he has scored seven times in overtime.

During the 2008 NHL All Star Game Skills Competition, Kaberle became the fourth player, after Ray Bourque, Mark Messier, and Jeremy Roenick, to hit all four targets in four shots in the accuracy challenge. Kaberle again participated in the accuracy challenge during the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal, although he was unable to defend his title against Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

On February 18, 2011, he was traded to the Boston Bruins for Joe Colborne and the Bruins' first-round draft pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in order to get him as a rental player, with a conditional second-round pick traded away because the Bruins won the Stanley Cup that year. His poor performance during the SCF prompted the Bruins not to re-sign him, signing with the Carolina Hurricanes instead, for 3 years at $4.25 million per year.

On December 9, 2011, he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Jaroslav Špaček.

International
Tomáš was selected to the Czech national team in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Tomáš and František were members of the Czech national ice hockey team at the 2005 World Ice Hockey Championships in Vienna, where they won gold. While František won the World Championships for the fifth time, it was the first victory for Tomáš. In December 2005 they were both named for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, where they won bronze medals with the team. The next year Tomáš accepted his nomination for 2006 World Championships in Riga where the Czech team won silver medals.

Honours

 * Played in NHL All-Star Game - 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009
 * Won NHL All-Star Game Accuracy Competition - 2008
 * Stanley Cup - 2011

International play
Kaberle played his first game for the national team in 2001, and has played 62 times for the Czech national team (as of Jan 3 2009)

Played for the Czech Republic in:


 * 1998 World Junior Championships
 * 2002 Winter Olympics
 * 2004 World Cup of Hockey
 * 2005 World Championships (gold medal)
 * 2006 Winter Olympics (bronze medal)
 * 2006 World Championships (silver medal)
 * 2008 World Championships