" The apparently inevitable departure of Bryan McCabe from Toronto may have taken another step toward fruition yesterday. There is a report the much-maligned Leaf defenceman has waived his no-movement clause, allowing him to be traded.

Sportsnet was reporting last night that McCabe had dropped the controversial clause – one the Leafs had tried to get him to remove at last season's trade deadline – and the 33-year-old may be headed to the Florida Panthers in a trade.

McCabe would reportedly allow a deal to a limited number of unspecified teams.

However, if the McCabe camp had reached such a compromise, it was news to Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher.

While Fletcher last night said he had ``no doubt'' that McCabe will consider such a move if a deal was to his liking, he said, ``as far as I know nothing has been decided.''

``We're in discussions with him but we're not aware he's waived anything at this point,'' said Fletcher, who has always expressed confidence that McCabe's situation would be resolved before camp.

It is thought that several teams are interested in acquiring McCabe, including the New York Islanders, who play near where the blue-liner makes his off-season home.

The Sportsnet report says the Panthers could be interested in McCabe because young blue-liner Jay Bouwmeester doesn't want to sign an extension with Florida."