McCabe began playing
junior hockey with the
Medicine Hat Tigers of the
Western Hockey League (WHL) in
1991–92. After one and a half seasons in Medicine Hat, he was traded to the
Spokane Chiefs. He completed the
1992–93 season with 60 points in 60 games split between the Tigers and Chiefs. That summer, he was drafted 40th overall by the
New York Islanders in the second round of the
1993 NHL entry draft. Once drafted, he returned to the Chiefs in
1993–94 and put up a junior career-high 84 points in 64 games. In his fourth and final year of junior, he was traded to the
Brandon Wheat Kings for the remaining 20 games of the
1994–95 season. He put up a total of 69 points in 62 games and was chosen as a first-team WHL All-Star. In
1995–96, McCabe began his NHL career with the Islanders. He recorded 23 points in his rookie season before being traded to the
Vancouver Canucks midway through his third year (along with
Todd Bertuzzi and a third-round draft pick in
1998, used to select
Jarkko Ruutu) in exchange for
Trevor Linden. He played one-and-a-half seasons with the Canucks before being traded to the
Chicago Blackhawks on the day of the
1999 NHL entry draft in a bid by Canucks general manager
Brian Burke to draft
Daniel and
Henrik Sedin second and third overall, respectively. McCabe was packaged with Vancouver's first-round draft pick in
2000 in exchange for Chicago's first-round pick in 1999. On October 2, 2000, after a 6-goal, 25-point campaign with the Blackhawks in
1999–2000, McCabe was traded once again to the
Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for
Alexander Karpovtsev and a fourth-round pick (
Vladimir Gusev) in the
2001 NHL entry draft. McCabe found his stride in Toronto and built on a 17-goal, 43-point breakout season in
2001–02 with 53 points two seasons later, culminating in a fourth-place finish in
James Norris Memorial Trophy voting Second Team All-Star honours. As NHL play was suspended due to the
2004–05 lockout, McCabe signed with
HV71 of the Swedish
Elitserien. He struggled with HV71 and exercised an escape clause in his contract before a game against
Södertälje SK, where he was scheduled to be a healthy scratch. He had one goal, no assists, 30 penalty minutes and a –12 rating over ten games. When NHL play resumed the following season, McCabe emerged with a career-high 19 goals, 49 assists and 68 points in 73 games with the Maple Leafs. He finished the season third overall in points among NHL defencemen, behind
Nicklas Lidström and
Sergei Zubov. Near the beginning of the season, McCabe was recognized as the NHL's Offensive Player of the Week for November 13–19, 2005, and was later named as a reserve on
Team Canada's
2006 Winter Olympic team in
Turin. Following McCabe's career year, on June 28, 2006, he signed a five-year, $28.75 million contract extension with Toronto that included a no-movement clause. He scored 57 points in 82 games the following season. In the dying seconds of overtime against the
Buffalo Sabres on October 15, 2007, McCabe scored in his own net; the goal was credited to
Paul Gaustad. McCabe was the focus of numerous trade rumours during the
2007–08 season, and on September 2, 2008, he was ultimately traded to the
Florida Panthers (along with a fourth-round draft pick in the
2010 NHL entry draft) in exchange for
defenceman Mike Van Ryn. McCabe was named team captain of the Florida Panthers on September 23, 2009, and on November 6, 2009, he played in his
1,000th game in the NHL. On February 26, 2011, McCabe was traded to the
New York Rangers in exchange for forward
Tim Kennedy and a third-round draft pick. McCabe announced his retirement from the NHL on February 15, 2012. ==International play==