Proposal: I Came to Trade Gardiner Not to Bury Him

[The Best Leafs Ever]

Just get rid of this pathetic guy. He is still ****ing here.

 

[Gabriel426]

He stayin' -- just sayin'

Thats a coach that every player wants to play for.

 

[The List Of Jericho]

My 2 cents:

Jake Gardiner has been an NHL d-man for 7 years and is still prone to making high risk plays that results in team loss.

• Pinch in Game 4 causing 2 on 1
• Game 7 performance -5

I doubt he is going to get better as he is mentally to weak IMO and scared of physicality (playoffs get very physical)

He will be a pending UFA next season; do we need another "self-rental" that is prone to defensive mishaps?

Unless the plan is to play Gardiner on the third pairing and limited mins (basically shelter him); I don't why he should be a leaf next season.

As far as I am concerned our D should be as follows:

Defense
Rielly - 1D (Nylander trade+pick(s)) Doughty from kings?
Dermott - Top4D (Gardiner replacement)
Hainsey - Carrick/Borgman/Liljegren
XXX

Forwards:
XXX-Matthews-Kapanen
Marleau-Tavares-Brown
Johnsson-Kadri-Marner (Shelter)
Lievo-XXX-Hyman

Why such moves?
Next year is the optimal year for the Leafs to really go for it with Matthews, Marner, Kapanen, Dermott, Johnsson all on ELCs

Where is Zaitsev in this scenario

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

If the plan is to let Gardiner walk for free next summer that is a major, major fail. I am forgiving to a point, the JVR situation is over but I will be highly critical of management if they allow this to happen for a 2nd year in a row.
Had we moved JVR last summer, we could possibly have an extra 1st + Gardiner to make an impactful deal moving forward now but that ship has sailed.
Either sign Jake to a deal or move him now.

I think you make suee Dermott can replace him before you trade him, see that was my issues with trading JVR we had no replacement we MIGHT have one in Dermott.

 

[Trapper]

I think you make suee Dermott can replace him before you trade him, see that was my issues with trading JVR we had no replacement we MIGHT have one in Dermott.

You still have no replacement for JVR. No one is a proven 30 + goal scorer.
My concern is while you are waiting, the season goes by and Gardiner isn't re-signed.

 

[Daisy Jane]

I'd be down to swap him for Tanev. The problem with trading Jake Gardiner is that it's going to be a hard trade to win, and if you're moving as big a piece Jake is on this team, you need to win that trade.

noooo. he's glaaaaassssssssss

 

[Daisy Jane]

Funny just heard Babs on Overdrive and he ended with "I don't care who you are, you want to play in Toronto". Went on to say how much he loves it here and that free agents will want to sign here. I wonder what he was hinting at.

hahaha. Drew?

 

[Daisy Jane]

Thank God our management and coaches aren't dumb enough to give up on a great player over a bad game

no no one should do that.
it shows that Babcock is a good coach.

however. management should see if they can get something better for jake and we move on

 

[drewjenks]

He was a D in College. He hasn't played forward since HS.

He played some FW in college. Not all the time though.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

no no one should do that.
it shows that Babcock is a good coach.

however. management should see if they can get something better for jake and we move on

teams aren't going to give up a better defenseman for him. If you want to improve our defense, you move a forward or some futures or a combination. Gardiner would be badly missed if he goes

 

[mulefarm]

He played some FW in college. Not all the time though.

He never played froward in college. His last year of playing forward was grade 11.

 

[7even]

noooo. he's glaaaaassssssssss

None of his injuries seem chronic. I think he's just been straight up unlucky.

We're not exactly swimming in options either. Choosy beggars and all that.

 

[Magic Man]

Thats a coach that every player wants to play for.

Yeah, he really is a likeable coach. He's great with the intense media we have here too.

 

[Daisy Jane]

None of his injuries seem chronic. I think he's just been straight up unlucky.

We're not exactly swimming in options either. Choosy beggars and all that.

same thing said about Lupul. i think once you start breaking, it just breaks.

 

[Stephen]

Jake Gardiner isn't a stout defensive stalwart and was exploited as a physical weak link in Game Seven and his time here in Toronto may have come to an end as a result, or not, but to be fair to him, if you watch a lot of offensive defensemen around the league, they're all probably pinching badly, coughing up the puck, etc. because they're always involved in the play... The quote on Ray Bourque early in his career was that you let go the 4-5 glaring mistakes he'd make in a game because he did 20 things to get you the win. So it's about risk and reward and how much of either you get.

Two things to consider re: his future. If Timothy Liljegren is basically your high risk 18 year old version of Gardiner but is RHD and on an ELC, maybe you can afford to let Jake go. Having so many of these types of defensemen is a bad mix. Second is it's not necessarily wrong to get rid of him, just have to get quality assets in return.

 

[Daisy Jane]

teams aren't going to give up a better defenseman for him. If you want to improve our defense, you move a forward or some futures or a combination. Gardiner would be badly missed if he goes

or.
you trade him for a package, then add our offer to that, and get a better defenseman.

i'm not going to go into my rant about trading (again) but i simply have to say we need to get better and no one wants to trade anyone (of value to get value back) thus it's gonna be hard to get better. not every answer is on the Marlies.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

or.
you trade him for a package, then add our offer to that, and get a better defenseman.

i'm not going to go into my rant about trading (again) but i simply have to say we need to get better and no one wants to trade anyone (of value to get value back) thus it's gonna be hard to get better. not every answer is on the Marlies.

if you move Gardiner, our biggest need becomes a player like Gardiner. People are way too hard on him. If you want a better defensemen then trade someone else

 

[TSN Jdog]

Hopefully teams actually pay for him what a joke!

 

[Apotheosis]

Most of the other stuff is opinion, but I think Dermott is easily ready for a top 4 role. He was dominating lower usage. This after being saddled with multiple, inferior partners. Playing him more minutes per night could only improve us.

 

[drewjenks]

He never played froward in college. His last year of playing forward was grade 11.

Interesting. I distinctly remember him playing on my line. Maybe I'm getting old.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Most of the other stuff is opinion, but I think Dermott is easily ready for a top 4 role. He was dominating lower usage. This after being saddled with multiple, inferior partners. Playing him more minutes per night could only improve us.

ideally he'd replace Hainsey on the top pair if we can't find someone better

 

[PromisedLand]

Where is Zaitsev in this scenario

ouch forgot about him

Third pairing would be Hansey-Zaitsev

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Whether you like him or not, Gardiner is the 2nd best defenseman on the team by far. Sure he has his off games, but he also has games where he's the best defenseman on the ice. If you want to improve our defense, you have to add to it. Removing Gardiner is not addition by subtraction like some people want to believe.

The most frustrating aspect of our defensive game by far was the inability to breakout. The most frustrating part of our offensive game was our inability for sustained pressure. Gardiner is fantastic at both.

Even before getting into what a trade would look like, it's just a bad idea to get rid of him due to him having a bad game.

 

[Duke Silver]

I get it and it might work. But Gardiner isn't the issue on the back end. I rather see us move on from Hainsey and zaitsev and focus on getting better RHD.

Also no player is mistake free. We may get rid of gardiners issues but another issue will pop up

That's why I used 90%.

 

[Duke Silver]

Whether you like him or not, Gardiner is the 2nd best defenseman on the team by far.

That's a problem.