Rumor: 4 teams, including Montreal, have made Gardiner an offer

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

his only real concern is his back and potentially his age. as far as his ability to play, he's excellent

 

[Bank Shot]

Anyhow, I’d love to find a way to bring Gardiner to San Jose on a short term deal and then trade Brenden Dillon. Gardiner wouldn’t get a ton of opportunity on the PP but he’d get a lot of ice time at even strength in a system where offense is encouraged from the defensemen more than any other system in the NHL. I think it could be very mutually beneficial to both sides.

If Gardiner would take $5M on a one-year term, we could trade Brenden Dillon and then still have room to add a top-6 F with some retention.

That'd be one of the worst places for him to go.

PP production has a huge impact on a defender's salary demands.

 

[Vachon23]

Gardiner will probably product more pts then Kulak Mete Chiarot together .. he’s a no brainer for us !

 

[slimbob8]

He's really good offensively. But he's also a complete BONEHEAD who cannot stop making bad decisions. Not worth whatever they will pay.

Newsflash: most players that aren't elite make bad decisions every game. Gardiner is no exception. All that matters is he helps much, much more than he hurts. Whatever team ends up signing him is probably going to be blown away because the bar has been set so low with this completely unwarranted treatment he gets from the fans.

It's Larry Murphy all over again. Our fans basically ran the guy out of town thinking he wasn't even an nhl caliber D anymore because he was too slow or he made too many giveaways. Detroit said sure, we'll take your 50 point d-man, play him 22+ minutes a night and be happy about it. 2 years later, 2 all star appearances. The treatment he got is exactly the same as Gardiner is getting and it just gets amplified and amplified by the uninformed to the point where all fanbases think that nonsense because that's what our own fanbase is spouting. Not saying Gardiner is as good as Larry Murphy by any means, but it's the same baseless pattern. The worst part about it is we have stats now to tell us how incorrect we are yet so many people choose to ignore them. Those stats all point to Gardiner being a very good d-man.

You don't have to be Victor Hedman to bring value to a team so let's stop insisting Gardiner is useless because he makes the odd giveaway. Focus on what he does well then ask yourself is it helping more than it hurts? The answer is clearly yes.

 

[Gunnin54]

I do

He's so much better than his reputation on HF. Any team would be happy to have him.

whybdoes HF hate him I don’t watch a lot of East Coast hockey bein in CA?

 

[dfunk]

I always liked him as a leafs fan but man he could drive ya nuts sometimes. Regardless he’d be the habs best left hand defenseman and I bet he’d look awfully good next to Weber both at even strength and PP

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Gardiner is going to get the Kessel treatment once he gets on a team that isn't the Leafs. Everyone will finally see he is actually a really good player.

Kessel got himself the Kessel treatment by making a commitment to the defensive side of the game once he left the Leafs. I guess it’s hard to float when you watch Crosby and Malkin hustling every shift. Kudos to Phil for improving his overall game.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

LOL. Please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE let Jake Gardiner become a Habber.

Two words for you: Cody Ceci.

 

[Holymakinaw]

Newsflash: most players that aren't elite make bad decisions every game. Gardiner is no exception. All that matters is he helps much, much more than he hurts. Whatever team ends up signing him is probably going to be blown away because the bar has been set so low with this completely unwarranted treatment he gets from the fans.

It's Larry Murphy all over again. Our fans basically ran the guy out of town thinking he wasn't even an nhl caliber D anymore because he was too slow or he made too many giveaways. Detroit said sure, we'll take your 50 point d-man, play him 22+ minutes a night and be happy about it. 2 years later, 2 all star appearances. The treatment he got is exactly the same as Gardiner is getting and it just gets amplified and amplified by the uninformed to the point where all fanbases think that nonsense because that's what our own fanbase is spouting. Not saying Gardiner is as good as Larry Murphy by any means, but it's the same baseless pattern. The worst part about it is we have stats now to tell us how incorrect we are yet so many people choose to ignore them. Those stats all point to Gardiner being a very good d-man.

You don't have to be Victor Hedman to bring value to a team so let's stop insisting Gardiner is useless because he makes the odd giveaway. Focus on what he does well then ask yourself is it helping more than it hurts? The answer is clearly yes.

LOL. No.

 

[Just Linda]

Newsflash: most players that aren't elite make bad decisions every game. Gardiner is no exception. All that matters is he helps much, much more than he hurts. Whatever team ends up signing him is probably going to be blown away because the bar has been set so low with this completely unwarranted treatment he gets from the fans.

It's Larry Murphy all over again. Our fans basically ran the guy out of town thinking he wasn't even an nhl caliber D anymore because he was too slow or he made too many giveaways. Detroit said sure, we'll take your 50 point d-man, play him 22+ minutes a night and be happy about it. 2 years later, 2 all star appearances. The treatment he got is exactly the same as Gardiner is getting and it just gets amplified and amplified by the uninformed to the point where all fanbases think that nonsense because that's what our own fanbase is spouting. Not saying Gardiner is as good as Larry Murphy by any means, but it's the same baseless pattern. The worst part about it is we have stats now to tell us how incorrect we are yet so many people choose to ignore them. Those stats all point to Gardiner being a very good d-man.

You don't have to be Victor Hedman to bring value to a team so let's stop insisting Gardiner is useless because he makes the odd giveaway. Focus on what he does well then ask yourself is it helping more than it hurts? The answer is clearly yes.

Thing is though, Montreal fans are no Detroit fans. I'd say Montreal is second only to Toronto in its ability to run players out of town.

 

[Balthazar]

He's so much better than anyone else on the left side in Montreal. Also signing him as an UFA = you get your top pairing guy to play with Weber without having to give any asset back. That alone is huge value for an org.

I know Habs fans got burned in the past with Alzner but Gardiner would be a very smart signing (assuming they plan to be competitive this year).

 

[Just Linda]

I can't decide what is worse.......Montreal's Centre depth or their D-corps. Both are utterly laughable.

I hope they get Gardiner.

Montreal has good depth and a D that was just average last year. If you find those humourous than perhaps it is the drugs that make you laugh.

 

[Vachon23]

Montreal has good depth and a D that was just average last year. If you find those humourous than perhaps it is the drugs that make you laugh.

But Gardiner is a core player not a depth player like all the others LD we have

 

[Bank Shot]

Kessel got himself the Kessel treatment by making a commitment to the defensive side of the game once he left the Leafs. I guess it’s hard to float when you watch Crosby and Malkin hustling every shift. Kudos to Phil for improving his overall game.

Fans always say this when a guy goes from a poor team to a good team. Its usually not accurate though.
The player just faces less criticism on a good team.

 

[Turin]

Kessel got himself the Kessel treatment by making a commitment to the defensive side of the game once he left the Leafs. I guess it’s hard to float when you watch Crosby and Malkin hustling every shift. Kudos to Phil for improving his overall game.

That never happened. The reason why he was traded to Arizona was because his overall game is declining from when he was in his prime.

 

[StuckOutHere]

Still think somehow he ends up a Leaf. If he wanted a deal he would of had one by now.

 

[slimbob8]

Kessel got himself the Kessel treatment by making a commitment to the defensive side of the game once he left the Leafs. I guess it’s hard to float when you watch Crosby and Malkin hustling every shift. Kudos to Phil for improving his overall game.

Ya I don't think the Kessel and Gardiner treatments are at all comparable. People actually question whether Gardiner is a good hockey player in TO. Nobody doubted Kessel was a great player on TO. They just questioned his work ethic and they still rightfully do.

The problem with the treatment Kessel got in TO IMO was that people said you can't win with Kessel because of the way he plays which is obviously nonsense. You can't win if Kessel is your best player and you're running a team with Tyler Bozak as your #1C sure, but that doesn't mean Kessel can't still be a big part of a cup winning team and he obviously proved that.

So Kessel was questioned for work habits and style of play whereas Gardiner is questioned on talent. They were actually more correct with Kessel than they are with Gardiner IMO.

 

[slimbob8]

Thing is though, Montreal fans are no Detroit fans. I'd say Montreal is second only to Toronto in its ability to run players out of town.

Yep, not saying Montreal won't do the same thing to him. It's a problem with all large fanbases. They need a punching bag and there's one every year on the team. The sheer number of people in those fanbases echoing these things result in it growing a life of its own to the point where logic no longer applies and it's just accepted, even by fans that watch the game with their own eyes, that that's who the player is.

 

[HOPE]

If you think Montreal's D corps is laughable wait til you see the Leafs

Rielly, Muzzin, Barrie is not laughable. Next year is a different story when Barrie and Muzzin leaves, if no kids steps up!

 

[Nylanderthal]

That's not the point. We just got Chiarot (who I know sucks) at a ridiculous 3.5m. We have Alzner who's not even an NHLer anymore costing us 4.625m. We have 2 decent NHLers in Mete (who's better defensively than Gardiner) and Kulak who proved to play very well with Petry... Why would we ALSO need Gardiner? We're going to overpay for him and greatly regret it. I know Bergevin's throwing money in the air for stupidities, but no thanks.

Gardiner is a top 3D in this league and would play top 4 in pretty much every blue line of the league. The guys you mentioned are all bottom pairing at best right now.

 

[ole ole]

Rielly, Muzzin, Barrie is not laughable. Next year is a different story when Barrie and Muzzin leaves, if no kids steps up!

Weber ,Petry and Gardiner wouldn't be laughable.
Add Mete and Kulak and our D > Leafs and our D depth > Leafs.

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

I do

whybdoes HF hate him I don’t watch a lot of East Coast hockey bein in CA?

He's a leaf and they naturally attract tons of both scorn and praise. Good d who's had several hiccups on the biggest stage (2 game 7s vs Boston). Can be dominant, but prone to "Jake mistakes". Analytically a darling but the eye test doesn't always match up. When mistakes are made they tend to be unbelievably glaring and costly.

 

[ole ole]

I can't decide what is worse.......Montreal's Centre depth or their D-corps. Both are utterly laughable.

I hope they get Gardiner.

Funny thing is the Habs D > Leafs D.

 

[Just Linda]

Gardiner is a top 3D in this league and would play top 4 in pretty much every blue line of the league. The guys you mentioned are all bottom pairing at best right now.

Man, your wording on this was ackward. I almost had a spit take because it reads like you are saying Gardiner is one of the top 3 d in the league and not that he's a 3d on most teams.

 

[Joel Ward]

If Marner signs a three-year deal I think Gardiner goes back to Toronto - they can afford Jake and Ceci until one of Dermott/Hyman is healthy. Then trade Ceci for the best pick/prospect offered.