Sportsnet: Jake Gardiner Talk

[hobarth]

No, I thought Clarkson was a third liner who deserved third line money. I think some fans on here are making Gardiner out to be more more than a #3 or #4 defensemen. If he were still on the Leafs Rielly, Barrie, Muzzin, Ceci and Dermott would be a head of him.

I thought it was pretty obvious how important Gardiner was and maybe will continue to be to TO. His back was ailing basically thru the 2nd half of the season and somehow a JT/Muzzin augmented lineup limped into the playoffs with a record of less than .500 thru that time. I thought the correlation should have been obvious, apparently not.

Muzzin and Dermott were a part of that train wreck so assuming they are better than Gardiner is a reach.

Let's hope TO can resign Gardiner and give him a quality partner, I hope so anyway.

 

[IPS]

I thought it was pretty obvious how important Gardiner was and maybe will continue to be to TO. His back was ailing basically thru the 2nd half of the season and somehow a JT/Muzzin augmented lineup limped into the playoffs with a record of less than .500 thru that time. I thought the correlation should have been obvious, apparently not.

Muzzin and Dermott were a part of that train wreck so assuming they are better than Gardiner is a reach.

Let's hope TO can resign Gardiner and give him a quality partner, I hope so anyway.

I sincerely believe the problems that ailed the team in the 2nd half of the season were far above anything Gardiner could compensate for.

Dubas did not make the 1 change that needed to be made this offseason.

 

[qqaz]

As good as Gardiner is, he just isn't a need on this team anymore. It would be nice to have him, sure. But he isn't a need. Rielly, Muzzin, Dermott on the left side is enough. And we certainly don't have the cap space to pay him even close to what he might want, assuming it's even as low as 5 million.

But the fact that he hasn't signed yet makes me wonder a little bit if he's waiting to see how much we can afford after Marner is re-signed. If there's any penny pinching that can get him a decent 1 year deal here, I think he might be open to the idea.

 

[The Iceman]

As good as Gardiner is, he just isn't a need on this team anymore. It would be nice to have him, sure. But he isn't a need. Rielly, Muzzin, Dermott on the left side is enough. And we certainly don't have the cap space to pay him even close to what he might want, assuming it's even as low as 5 million.

But the fact that he hasn't signed yet makes me wonder a little bit if he's waiting to see how much we can afford after Marner is re-signed. If there's any penny pinching that can get him a decent 1 year deal here, I think he might be open to the idea.

Why not Dermott on the right and Gardiner for a LHD spot?

 

[Its not your fault]

As good as Gardiner is, he just isn't a need on this team anymore. It would be nice to have him, sure. But he isn't a need. Rielly, Muzzin, Dermott on the left side is enough. And we certainly don't have the cap space to pay him even close to what he might want, assuming it's even as low as 5 million.

But the fact that he hasn't signed yet makes me wonder a little bit if he's waiting to see how much we can afford after Marner is re-signed. If there's any penny pinching that can get him a decent 1 year deal here, I think he might be open to the idea.

PTO Horton to injury reserve sign Gardiner.

 

[Beanzy]

Time to move on. Why are we still hoping for Jake to re-sign? Back issues that may or may not linger, brain farts in big moments - I'd like to see a change and wish him the best of luck elsewhere.

Our left side is pretty solid... Rielly, Muzzin, Dermott. Barrie will make up for the production lost with Gardiner gone and then some. If Liljegren has a good camp he could be a decent bottom pair RHD. Let's see what this current crew can do.

 

[ToDavid]

Mirtle on the Dangle podcast says that Gardiner will not be back on the Leafs. Says his back is fine and there are plenty of offers on the table, just waiting for some pieces to fall into place and he’ll make his decision.

 

[Leafsforever89]

Mirtle on the Dangle podcast says that Gardiner will not be back on the Leafs. Says his back is fine and there are plenty of offers on the table, just waiting for some pieces to fall into place and he’ll make his decision.

Plenty of offers. Obviously not. GARDINER will have to settle for a lot less than he hoped for. Teams are staying away. No money left for Gardiner in Toronto especially considering Marner has to be signed.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Gards never knows what he is going to do. His hockey is much like his decision making in UFA. The biggest issue with Gards is he is not a traditional Dman so he makes up plays as he goes on the fly. None of his teammates but most importantly his partner knows what he is doing on the ice so it is incredibly hard to play with a guy like that as a player. He is an advanced player as the stats show. So advanced no one really understands. Best to let someone else figure out the enigma. Plus the enigma has a bad back so who knows that really throws a wrinkle in things. Not at all surprised things taking forever with him. I still think someone is going to get massively burned here.

 

[ToDavid]

Plenty of offers. Obviously not. GARDINER will have to settle for a lot less than he hoped for. Teams are staying away. No money left for Gardiner in Toronto especially considering Marner has to be signed.

He's not coming back to Toronto but I'm going to go ahead and assume you don't have the inside scoop on his contract negotiations. I'll trust the guy talking to people in the league every day.

 

[paulhiggins]

...I still think someone is going to get massively burned here.

I think someone will get burned too but going elsewhere it likely won't be a Dubas-level burn.

 

[HockeyGuruPitka]

If Gardiner will take 4.5 to stay with the Leafs, shouldnt we be desperately trying to flip Ceci ?

 

[hullsy47]

If Gardiner will take 4.5 to stay with the Leafs, shouldnt we be desperately trying to flip Ceci ?

it's all hes worth .can trust him. in big games in the playoffs
he has no one to blame but himself and DJ for using him wrong

 

[zeke]

we could have squeezed him in this year, but not next year.

 

[Coachcorner]

Time to move on. Why are we still hoping for Jake to re-sign? Back issues that may or may not linger, brain farts in big moments - I'd like to see a change and wish him the best of luck elsewhere.

Our left side is pretty solid... Rielly, Muzzin, Dermott. Barrie will make up for the production lost with Gardiner gone and then some. If Liljegren has a good camp he could be a decent bottom pair RHD. Let's see what this current crew can do.

Ich would be liking the post but ich couldn't right at the moment. This is all ich and everybody else liking these. Our squad is such a meatball crew already wrapped in a riddle. Like we ain't got that much thugness or toughness, but we do have loads of talenttio. Lets see where this adventure takes is all. That'll be fun.

 

[ottomaddox]

Im still bitter about the Beauchemin trade, so you know...

 

[DopeyFish]

we could have squeezed him in this year, but not next year.

Well that depends if we're keeping Barrie and Muzzin tbh

 

[francis246]

Im still bitter about the Beauchemin trade, so you know...

Wtf.. the beauchemin trade is one of the best trades of the Burke Era. It was a straight up steal. Beacuhemin was solid and reliable but Gardiner has been everything we hoped, if not better than what was expected when we traded for him. Imagine we got Justin Schultz

 

[AllDay28]

Plenty of offers. Obviously not. GARDINER will have to settle for a lot less than he hoped for. Teams are staying away. No money left for Gardiner in Toronto especially considering Marner has to be signed.

ya you know more than Mirtle.. who dropped the Tavares signing the night before..

 

[Eb]

The longer he goes unsigned the more hopeful I am that him and Dubas are working on something.

But the I look at the numbers and it just doesn’t make sense.

 

[mulefarm]

I think Gardiner will make some team very happy! He’s a very solid player great team guy.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

Wtf.. the beauchemin trade is one of the best trades of the Burke Era. It was a straight up steal. Beacuhemin was solid and reliable but Gardiner has been everything we hoped, if not better than what was expected when we traded for him. Imagine we got Justin Schultz

Schultz was terrible in Edmonton but that was Edmonton. Since being in Pittsburgh he has been nothing but excellent. Nothing about his numbers in Edmonton ever made sense and I would love to see what Gardiner and Schultz could do together. They are great friends and were an amazing pairing in college.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Maybe Mitch will sign for a discount so Gards can sign

 

[ottomaddox]

Wtf.. the beauchemin trade is one of the best trades of the Burke Era. It was a straight up steal. Beacuhemin was solid and reliable but Gardiner has been everything we hoped, if not better than what was expected when we traded for him. Imagine we got Justin Schultz

Your opinion is rather fan/leaf biased and rather out-to-lunch.

Gardiner has never even come close to Beauchemin's consistency, and Lupul's erratic/injury-laden time with TOR is well documented. For a few years Beauchemin was ANA's top line D. Gardiner is a #4 at best.

 

[paulhiggins]

Maybe Mitch will sign for a discount so Gards can sign

Not many RFAs actually care about each other or the team winning. It's all about the money.