Gardiner is becoming our best offensive defenceman

[BDizzle*]

I don't understand the this notion that Gardiner is bad defensively. In my opinion he is great. He his quite sound positionally, has good gap control, great first pass out of the zone, great skating to make up for defensive lapses etc.

I think the eye test is where people get confused with Gardiner. He plays a style where everything looks so effortless, and thus people think he is coasting or floating around. In reality he is a great defenseman.

 

[hotpaws]

Gardiner has been the most played defenseman on avg the past couple of games. His time has gone has up as Hunwick and Polak have been reduced. It coincides with the overall improvement in Toronto's defence. Babcock is realizing who the best defencemen is on the Leafs. I bet next game Gardiner is number 1 or close to it in time played.

When Gardiner starts playing the tougher mins then and only then can he be considered a 1st pairing D .

 

[LastWordArmy]

When we think of an elite defenseman we look towards those who are effective on both ends of the rink. The best defensemen in the world are capable of disrupting the opposition’s attack and immediately turn that play into a scoring chance for his team. These types of plays don’t occur regularly, but superior defenders are capable of making something out of nothing. That is why the job of a defenseman is crucial for his team.

Despite being relied upon by its goaltender to limit quality shots against, they also need to be able to move the puck up ice to its forwards in order to create any opportunity to score. The Toronto Maple Leafs have many skilled players in their lineup, but what’s not to be forgotten is the importance of their back end. Here’s why Jake Gardiner is an elite defenseman who leads Toronto’s blueline by example.

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http://lastwordonhockey.com/2016/12/19/jake-gardiner-is-an-elite-defenseman-2/

 

[Drew311]

I think it was Carlyle who said give a defenseman at least 300 games to make a fair assessment of his game. This seems to be true for Gardiner as his game is finally coming around. Most fans would have been fine seeing him traded the last couple of seasons, but I don't think management would even consider moving him at this point.

 

[Leafs87]

Best overall I'd say

 

[HellasLEAF]

Even before, Gardiner would turn in mostly strong performances but they would be marred by the odd visible gaff.

He has eliminated most of that from his game with improved confidence and we are getting all the good stuff now.

 

[thewave]

What a stud! He awesome!

 

[Drew311]

Even before, Gardiner would turn in mostly strong performances but they would be marred by the odd visible gaff.

He has eliminated most of that from his game with improved confidence and we are getting all the good stuff now.

I think most of his gaffs were from refusing to make the safe and simple play, instead trying to rely on his skating to get away from pressure. Now that's he's settled down a bit and is more confident, I agree his all around game is shining.

 

[LeafingTheWay]

I still think he's our best D right NOW. You could see it in this game too when he was playing Rielly's shutdown role, played fantastic. Rielly is our #1 man long-term though without a doubt.

Man oh man I wish Gardiner had a partner like Zaistev to play with so that his pairing could get more tougher starts, but he's with sheltered Carrick.

 

[Battle Lin]

we all like jake a lot, but the reason why we love him so much is that hes on the 2nd pairing...can you imagine if rielly and zaitsev were off this team and gardiner defends the nhl's best players night in and night out for 82 games...i dont think we would love him as much

 

[1specter]

Gardiner has unreal stamina/fitness, played 30 minutes tonight and made it look easy.

 

[thewave]

we all like jake a lot, but the reason why we love him so much is that hes on the 2nd pairing...can you imagine if rielly and zaitsev were off this team and gardiner defends the nhl's best players night in and night out for 82 games...i dont think we would love him as much

We are about to see how he does for the next little bit.

 

[NarcoPolo]

I still think he's our best D right NOW. You could see it in this game too when he was playing Rielly's shutdown role, played fantastic. Rielly is our #1 man long-term though without a doubt.

Man oh man I wish Gardiner had a partner like Zaistev to play with so that his pairing could get more tougher starts, but he's with sheltered Carrick.

Agreed. I'd love to get another mobile d like Zaitsev for Jake/Mo. Ideally, Jake and Morgan split the tougher minutes amongst each other on seperate pairings. I think we still havent seen the best of Gardiner quite yet.

 

[thewave]

Gardiner has unreal stamina/fitness, played 30 minutes tonight and made it look easy.

Skating like him is very efficient energy wise. I love to mimic Jake when I bomb around, although it's not natural to me I could feel the difference.

 

[Liminality]

we all like jake a lot, but the reason why we love him so much is that hes on the 2nd pairing...can you imagine if rielly and zaitsev were off this team and gardiner defends the nhl's best players night in and night out for 82 games...i dont think we would love him as much

Gardiner played great this game. We'll see if he's up to the task for as long as Rielly is out though.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Even if Mo's back soon, I want more Gardiner-Zaitsev.

They looked scary good together.

 

[PhiladelphiaKessel]

Gardiner reminds me a lot of Anton stralman. Good thing we didn't give up on Gardiner early like stralman. Guys a stud

 

[34]

Gardiner is a legit top pairing D. He gets so underrated on here.

 

[Albus Dumbledore]

idk he just seems less passive, meaning hes in position more, reacting quicker.
He just seems to eliminate the threat before they happen or neutralises it with his silky smooth skating or puck handling. This is my observation of him in the last two years, where he has been his best.

 

[Doug Gilmour]

He is very underrated and I'm guilty of seeing only the flaws with him sometimes but he has become so well rounded that we would be in a heap of trouble without him. Tonight against the Sabres when he was called upon, he rose up to the challenge and never wavered. Really a different side of him than compared to his early years.

 

[Slyfox]

Our best defensemen easily this year. We are about to see how Gardiner carries our D-men if Rielly is out.

 

[Apotheosis]

If he learns to cut to the front or slow down and look for a pass, he'd get 60 points consistently. Good thing is Rielly is just 22. If the worst part about him right now is that he's a 35-40 point defenseman we are looking at a pretty good player.

That's the scary part about Rielly. Such a great skater. He has great vision to go with it. A 60 point D is a 1D in today's NHL with his skill set.

 

[The_Chosen_One]

Gardiner is a legit top pairing D. He gets so underrated on here.

He is looking like one and Zaitsev isn't far off either. The idea we need to add another "top pairing" defenseman is a fantasy. You simply cannot acquire a defenseman that is higher calibre than Gardiner or Zaitsev outside of the draft unless we get very lucky.

 

[Raym11]

He is looking like one and Zaitsev isn't far off either. The idea we need to add another "top pairing" defenseman is a fantasy. You simply cannot acquire a defenseman that is higher calibre than Gardiner or Zaitsev outside of the draft unless we get very lucky.

its not really a fantasy. This team needs another top pairing defenseman regardless of how hard it is to get. I'm sure we will find one over the next couple years


We need a big point shot. Any sort of threat from there. Rielly has everything but the shot, leaves us Gardiner and nothing else and his shot is average. I know our strength is down low scoring but it would be nice to have a steady defenseman with a good point shot. Even if he's a 5 D

 

[The_Chosen_One]

its not really a fantasy. This team needs another top pairing defenseman regardless of how hard it is to get. I'm sure we will find one over the next couple years


We need a big point shot. Any sort of threat from there. Rielly has everything but the shot, leaves us Gardiner and nothing else and his shot is average. I know our strength is down low scoring but it would be nice to have a steady defenseman with a good point shot. Even if he's a 5 D

A big point shot would be nice but that could be a mid-pairing solution. I just don't see a future beyond two top centers in Matthews/ Nylander, a top winger in Marner, a 1D in Rielly and a "top pairing" D looking for a big pay check on top of that. That'd be a nightmare budget-wise in the long-run.

Instead I see a D via committee with a 1D in Rielly and near "top pairing" solutions supplemented with solid EL D via the draft. That could be very Penguins-like but who knows what we end up drafting.