Confirmed Signing with Link: [CAR] Jake Gardiner to the Carolina Hurricanes (4 years, $4.05M AAV)

Kamiccolo

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I don't know what it is about Gardiner that makes people want him to fail. He's by all accounts a great person, good in the locker room, good in the community. Had to deal with a portion of idiot fans in Toronto and the media suggesting he is the worst hockey player ever, and came out every game (even in game 7's) to face the media and own up to shit.

And yet, even now, there are some fans in this thread rooting against him. I am so pumped I get to keep following this guy closely.
 

Big Daddy Cane

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Hockey fans generally dislike smallish, in height or playstyle, offensive defensemen that are perceived to be bad defensively. The argument is generally that the job of the position is to play defense. The exposure that comes with playing in a high profile market exacerbates things. Erik Karlsson has been and continues to be a polarizing player for a reason.
 

Ace Card Bedard

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Interesting:

Canes trade LD DeHaan ($4.55M) and Aleksi Saarela ($753K)
for
Gustav Forsling ($874K) and Anton Forsberg ($775)

Cutting their cap spending by $3.3654M.

Then they sign LD Gardiner for $4.05M and waive Forsling and Forsberg.

They may come out of this with Gardiner over DeHaan and Saarela plus an extra ~$2M+ in cap space.
 

Boom Boom Apathy

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Interesting:

Canes trade LD DeHaan ($4.55M) and Aleksi Saarela ($753K)
for
Gustav Forsling ($874K) and Anton Forsberg ($775)

Cutting their cap spending by $3.3654M.

Then they sign LD Gardiner for $4.05M and waive Forsling and Forsberg.

They may come out of this with Gardiner over DeHaan and Saarela plus an extra ~$2M+ in cap space.

And traded Faulk ($4.8M cap, $6M real dollars, 1 year left on his deal) for Edmundson ($3.1m cap, $3.1M real dollars, 1 year left on his deal) and recent first rounder Bokk

Saarela likely would have been waived sent down as well so it's:

- CDH ($4.55M) and Faulk ($4.83M)
+ Gardiner ($4.05M) and Edmunson ($3.1M) and picking up Bokk in the process.

EDIT: corrected waivers statement. Thanks @Hockyluv21
 
Last edited:

TheReelChuckFletcher

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And traded Faulk ($4.8M cap, $6M real dollars, 1 year left on his deal) for Edmundson ($3.1m cap, $3.1M real dollars, 1 year left on his deal) and recent first rounder Bokk

Saarela likely would have been waived as well so it's:

- CDH ($4.55M) and Faulk ($4.83M)
+ Gardiner ($4.05M) and Edmunson ($3.1M) and picking up Bokk in the process.

Saarela was waivers-exempt this season, but yes, your point remains the same. To me, Gardiner and Edmundson are net-upgrades over CDH and Faulk for less AAV. If the Canes were cheap elsewhere on the roster, I would've complained a bit, but no, they got Dzingel and Haula, as well, and got Toronto's 1st for $6M in cap space. The absolute last thing that our management was this year was "cheap".
 

GIN ANTONIC

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Canes D contracts for this year...

Haydn Fleury - $850k - RFA in 2020
TVR - Age 28 - $2.3 mil - UFA in 2020
Joel Edmundson - Age $26 - 3.1 mil - UFA in 2020
Jake Gardiner - Age 29 - $4.05 mil - UFA in 2023
Brett Pesce - Age 24 - $4.25 mil - UFA in 2024
Jaccob Slavin - Age 25 - $5.3 mil - UFA in 2025
Dougie Hamilton - Age 26 - $5.75 mil - UFA in 2021
Total for 2019/2020 - $25.6 mil

EDIT: Add $800k for Faulk retention
 
Last edited:

mydnyte

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Hockey fans generally dislike smallish, in height or playstyle, offensive defensemen that are perceived to be bad defensively. The argument is generally that the job of the position is to play defense. The exposure that comes with playing in a high profile market exacerbates things. Erik Karlsson has been and continues to be a polarizing player for a reason.

he's 6'2" 205lb ...he is not small, but he is not physical
 

TomasHertlsRooster

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Saarela was waivers-exempt this season, but yes, your point remains the same. To me, Gardiner and Edmundson are net-upgrades over CDH and Faulk for less AAV. If the Canes were cheap elsewhere on the roster, I would've complained a bit, but no, they got Dzingel and Haula, as well, and got Toronto's 1st for $6M in cap space. The absolute last thing that our management was this year was "cheap".

I don’t honestly know much of anything about Dominik Bokk but I think you can safely assume that his value was in the late 1st range and if you do, Carolina had the best off-season of any team in the league IMO.
 

Man Bear Pig

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I don't know what it is about Gardiner that makes people want him to fail. He's by all accounts a great person, good in the locker room, good in the community. Had to deal with a portion of idiot fans in Toronto and the media suggesting he is the worst hockey player ever, and came out every game (even in game 7's) to face the media and own up to ****.

And yet, even now, there are some fans in this thread rooting against him. I am so pumped I get to keep following this guy closely.
Plenty of us like Gardiner in Toronto. Hes a polarizing player though, I will admit. Its always been bizarre to me that Gardiner gets so much hate for no apparent reason. $4 million is a steal for what you're getting. As far as idiots go, okay, sure. As if the guy wasnt criticized like crazy outside of Toronto. All we've heard as Leafs fans for years is how hes garbage. Trying to zero the hate on Leafs fans is crazy. HF has done nothing but shit all over the guy.
 
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Critical13

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Literally goes to show you how the Toronto media play a role. Gardiner is 10x the dman Myers is and got half the contract. This made my entire day. So pumped.

A couple months in and I think you missed once again on this one Kami.

Jakes back still seems to be an issue, which is likely what drove his cap hit down.
 
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TomasHertlsRooster

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A couple months in and I think you missed once again on this one Kami.

Jakes back still seems to be an issue, which is likely what drove his cap hit down.

Yup, as a huge Gardiner supporter here I might have to eat some crow as well. It’s still early in the season, but Gardiner has been absolutely terrible for Carolina. And this is by the same metrics that said he was an underrated top pairing defenseman in the past.
 

Connor McConnor

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He's literally been their worst defenceman... Relagated to 3rd pairing and tbh should be benched and give Bean a shot.
 

Weast

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I don't know what it is about Gardiner that makes people want him to fail. He's by all accounts a great person, good in the locker room, good in the community. Had to deal with a portion of idiot fans in Toronto and the media suggesting he is the worst hockey player ever, and came out every game (even in game 7's) to face the media and own up to ****.

And yet, even now, there are some fans in this thread rooting against him. I am so pumped I get to keep following this guy closely.
The people that blamed Gardiner for most of the Leafs woes want to feel justified in their hate, if Gardiner was playing well then they would have to face the fact that their playoff problems were more than just Gardiner being terrible.
 

spockBokk

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Gardiner has been bad. There’s no denying that. He suffered an injury in camp, which I think was a re-aggravation of his back issues. However, he has looked better over the past few games. I’m willing to give him time, just look at how being patient with Hamilton worked out for CAR, and I don’t see many teams lining up to take him and the 3 more years on his deal given his current level of performance. Not to mention, the optics would look real bad for CAR after trading another D, recently signed, 1 year into their contract.

Gardiner is signed to a very reasonable cap hit and I think CAR will be patient with him and hope he can eventually slot next to Pesce in the top 4. It’s not like they really have a lot of options there anyway. I do not think they should shut him down for a few weeks and let him heal, if it’s truly the back giving him problems. They certainly have the depth to let him rest up and get back to 100%.
 
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LeafSteel

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I don't know what it is about Gardiner that makes people want him to fail. He's by all accounts a great person, good in the locker room, good in the community. Had to deal with a portion of idiot fans in Toronto and the media suggesting he is the worst hockey player ever, and came out every game (even in game 7's) to face the media and own up to ****.

And yet, even now, there are some fans in this thread rooting against him. I am so pumped I get to keep following this guy closely.

Still cheering for Gardiner, and I’m glad he was able to escape the mob mentality that can take over in Toronto.

Great guy, low maintenance, well liked. Only issue is his one mistake always seemed to be at a pivotal moment and always ended win the back of the net.

Hoping his health holds up and he can contribute.
 
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justafan22

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Gardiner has been bad. There’s no denying that. He suffered an injury in camp, which I think was a re-aggravation of his back issues. However, he has looked better over the past few games. I’m willing to give him time, just look at how being patient with Hamilton worked out for CAR, and I don’t see many teams lining up to take him and the 3 more years on his deal given his current level of performance. Not to mention, the optics would look real bad for CAR after trading another D, recently signed, 1 year into their contract.

Gardiner is signed to a very reasonable cap hit and I think CAR will be patient with him and hope he can eventually slot next to Pesce in the top 4. It’s not like they really have a lot of options there anyway. I do not think they should shut him down for a few weeks and let him heal, if it’s truly the back giving him problems. They certainly have the depth to let him rest up and get back to 100%.

Yeah, the ability is never his issue, you just worry that he might be capped at a 3rd pairing level with his injuries
 

bleedgreen

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I didn’t like the swapping out of DeHaan for Gardiner, but said at the time if the guy comes in and helps the pp while being better at moving the puck out of the zone and isn’t a liability I’d get it and move on.

I don’t have a negative opinion of the guy at all coming before or after the move but he hasn’t delivered in those things I mentioned. He hasn’t been as quick skating out of his end and not as strong as I expected moving the puck out either though he’s definitely had flashes.

His defense has been meh at best to me. I think so far the move has been a backfire and we would be a better team with DeHaan for essentially the same price. He’s been a third pairing guy when he seemed to be an obvious top four option. Still, he’s got plenty of time on the contract to prove it was the right move.
 

Leaf Fans

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Plenty of us like Gardiner in Toronto. Hes a polarizing player though, I will admit. Its always been bizarre to me that Gardiner gets so much hate for no apparent reason. $4 million is a steal for what you're getting. As far as idiots go, okay, sure. As if the guy wasnt criticized like crazy outside of Toronto. All we've heard as Leafs fans for years is how hes garbage. Trying to zero the hate on Leafs fans is crazy. HF has done nothing but **** all over the guy.
This happens often. Though it is true we as a fan base shoulder a lot of the blame.
 

teravaineSAROS

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Hockey fans generally dislike smallish, in height or playstyle, offensive defensemen that are perceived to be bad defensively. The argument is generally that the job of the position is to play defense. The exposure that comes with playing in a high profile market exacerbates things. Erik Karlsson has been and continues to be a polarizing player for a reason.

You mean people love overhyping small offensive defensemen
 

Zybalto

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Dec 28, 2012
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Havnt watched Gardiner much this year but there was a reason why a guy with his stats didnt get picked up quick at a much higher cap hit.

Hes suffered a really bad back injury the 2nd half of the year and may never be the same player he was. Bad news for him in a contract year and bad news so far for the Canes who took a gamble on him.

He could still come back to the player he was of course but, looking at all his underlying numbers, you're looking at a shell of what he once was.
 

Faltorvo

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Feb 18, 2008
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Plenty of us like Gardiner in Toronto. Hes a polarizing player though, I will admit. Its always been bizarre to me that Gardiner gets so much hate for no apparent reason. $4 million is a steal for what you're getting. As far as idiots go, okay, sure. As if the guy wasnt criticized like crazy outside of Toronto. All we've heard as Leafs fans for years is how hes garbage. Trying to zero the hate on Leafs fans is crazy. HF has done nothing but **** all over the guy.
being a combined minus -8

in back to back PO game 7s will do that
 

Sticktape

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Jan 25, 2017
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Was always blown away people were predicting 6 or 7 years x 6 million or so when he was a UFA.
 

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