I see his trip down the yellow brick road has yet to bear fruit.
I've always remembered Gardiner as a bit of a slow starter too, particularly pre-Babcock .. I'm sure he'll figure it out. Just a slump. Unfortunately it gets magnified with the team's struggles and other players struggling.
Pitch forks and torches out yet? They guy caught a grove on the ice and fell, happens to EVERYONE who's ever been on the ice before. You can't blame him for bad ice.
The guy is a very good #3 or #4 dman. He is playing out of position right now. the difference between a #1/#2 and a #3/#4 is the guys who are legit #1/#2 have consistency to their games that #3/#4 do not have. A #3/#4 dman can play like a #1/#2 for stretches but will have horrible games that make them look more like a #5/#6 dman.
Jake is what he is don't expect more and don't blame him for being forced to play a position in the line-up he is not equipped to play. He is not a legit #1/#2 dman.
He's started slow every full season he's played in the NHL, and this year he for the first time doesn't start out playing easy minutes, so it's not surprising he ends up looking worse than usual.
If he can consistently look as he did last half of last season through games 30-82+, I don't honestly care how he looks through games 1-29. That's an asset.
It's not just one play, he's been very, very bad basically every game this year. He's certainly not playing like a "very good #3 or #4 dman", he's been playing like a train wreck who shouldn't be in the NHL at all.Pitch forks and torches out yet? They guy caught a grove on the ice and fell, happens to EVERYONE who's ever been on the ice before. You can't blame him for bad ice.
The guy is a very good #3 or #4 dman. He is playing out of position right now. the difference between a #1/#2 and a #3/#4 is the guys who are legit #1/#2 have consistency to their games that #3/#4 do not have. A #3/#4 dman can play like a #1/#2 for stretches but will have horrible games that make them look more like a #5/#6 dman.
Jake is what he is don't expect more and don't blame him for being forced to play a position in the line-up he is not equipped to play. He is not a legit #1/#2 dman.
over paid too ....We have all known now for some time that Jake is not a 1, neither is Mo. When these guys aren't playing well we are paying the price and neither of them have ever been a reliable go to defender. The bigger concern is how our forwards get exploited by big defensive teams. They have our number and Babs is going to need to do more shifting.
It's interesting that Weaver on Leafs Lunch, who normally rag on Gardiner more than pretty much anyone, completely laid the brunt of blame for the first goal elsewhere. He was basically saying that Gardiner fell, it happens, and after that he's in a tough position. Polak, meanwhile, was way out of position, as he should have come in to the middle of the ice with Gardiner up towards the boards, and should have been ready to back Gardiner up rather than think offense first.
That ties into what I've mentioned about Polak in the previous games. His value as is at even strength is to be a safety blanket for a more offensive minded partner, but he's been really aggressive in trying to jump up and take chances. I've caught him numerous times being way out of position trying to jump a play and create a turnover high in the neutral zone, which has ended up with him just being completely lost instead. That's not good, that's not him playing his role.
Weaver also criticized the forwards a bit, but I don't know if I agree there. We had the breakout under control. I do think that's been an issue for us though. Even with the puck-carrying defender under pressure, our forwards seem to be thinking about how to get into the offensive zone. We need to play through the situations, and we don't. The whole team can't try to quick strike on possession switches every time.
I don't often agree with Weaver, but he definitely knows his stuff when it comes to defensive play, so that's where I listen intently.
Doesn't matter what Gardiner is about to do. Polak needs to be in the middle of the ice with some depth regardless. It's a simple job, and he screwed it up. That's worse than misplaying the puck when you're sitting in your ass.Gardiner could've just kept the puck along the boards so that players will have to at least come there in order to get the puck but he had to just pass it right to the player who was rushing down the middle. How can you blame anyone else but Gardiner in that regards? Polak is also a human and he obviously didn't know that Gardiner would tumble for such a simple pass and turn it over like that, maybe he was going for a change since the bench was on the other side. Who knows?
Just not a fan of his game. Bone headed plays, one after another. Gets lost in coverage. Nice player for breaking out but we are truly leaning on him way too much. He's a 3-4 on a lot of teams, a #5 on a lot of contenders.
hes a veteran now ,and he makes young player mistakes ,but unless u have a no 4 type defenseman ready u cant move him ,Jake looked alright last night! On the right track, stop being terrible!
I've been a big critic of Gardiner's play to start the season. Really happy with his play over this win streak though, he's massively cut down the mistakes, and is playing with way more confidence. He's been playing like a quality top 4 dman recently, which makes a huge difference to our team. Keep it up Jake!