Jake Gardiner...

[Ziggdiezan]

theres nothing wrong with jake, he just not suppose to get most D minutes and be on with nhl top lines night in and night out, thats not his job and was never his job, babs just asked too much of him, rielly needs to finally take on that role

Agreed, Hainsey was playing like shit so I felt like Jake got leaned on more. Rielly also had a train wreck of a game 1 and 2 that people don't seem to mention.

I get Gardiner didn't have a good game 7 and it is fresh it people's mind. However he was one of the better leaf defenders in that series still.

Leafs forwards not carrying the defensive load that other teams forwards are is a big part of the teams problem. The Leafs defenders obviously aren't great. However the Leaf forwards never seem to cover the pinch and few seem to make that hustle to track their man back.

Edit:

I would give the following a try:

Rielly-Zaitsev
Gardiner-Hainsey

Rielly and Z had a good year together and I think Hainsey and Gardiner would be a solid 2nd pairing.

 

[cannucky]

Gards and Hainsey played a ton of minutes together when Reilly was hurt and were great together , both were smiling and relaxed because they both knew the other was there to carry his own load , Hainsey has to constantly carry Reilly and Gards has to carry Zaitsev , Reilly is on his fourth partner and all we ever hear is how bad that partner is and how it's not Reilly's fault he is minus double digits 5v5 while picking up 30 charity assists by just passing the puck to Marner on the PP . For the record we were on a damn good winning streak when he was out of the lineup , same goes for everybodies fanboy favorite goalie but still the guys that have to shoulder the weight when those guys fail get all the blame .

 

[cannucky]

How about
Gardiner -Hainsey
XXXXXX- Dermott
Borgman-Holl
Carrick , Polak etc
If we decide to keep Polak on another 1 year deal then he could platoon with the third pair but it's time to move Marincin , Rielly and a couple of others . If we are keeping Dermott we have no need for Reilly , One non contact Offensive Defenseman is one too many forget about carrying two of them , my 6 year old wingman could feed Marner on the PP and not end up so far upside down in his 5v5 time .

 

[moon111]

If the defense could play in front of the net as hard as Polak does, that benefit would completely out-shadow any drawbacks Gardiner may produce.
That one little thing, and the Leafs might of won the series. And having four blueliners break the 75 Giveaways seems a bit extreme. Maybe you
forgive that kind of thing with a Reilly or Gardiner handling the puck and producing points. But Zaitsev and Hainey have to settle down.
Overall, I think Gardiner should be motivated to work on his game and all emotions aside, will probably be a bigger asset if he returns then as a trade
piece. If clubs know to exploit Gardiner, they know not to trade for him as well. He played 64 more minutes in the playoffs then Dermott, yet Dermott
lead the club for giveaways. Gardiner had the most ice-time and that's going to give more chances for mistakes to come out as well. But would the team
had been better off giving an extra 15 minutes to another blue-liner? It's the same question I proposed defending Raycroft (dumb I know but listen to
my logic lol), he was facing 10 more shots then Osgood per game. At a .900 save percentage, that's one less goal against. Even having a bad day, you
might not destroy your confidence with a good team in front of you. The idea that Rask would of turned out the same with the Leafs is insane.
If Dermott gets more ice, that alone will take away from Gardiner and there's less 'Gardiner'-issues being exposed.

 

[nuck]

How about dealing Gardiner when he still has a cheap year on his contract like they should have done with JVR. Bringing him back is basically reaffirming that a D who were terrible at shot suppression can win them a championship. Seriously, we know Freddy crapped the bed in the playoffs but the club relied on him way too heavily during the year and run and gun only works if all your guns are firing all the time (and still doesn't win the Cup). Zaitsev has an untradeable deal until hie can pick his game up and Hainsey needs to be a 4-5 , and Rielly is supposed to be their top guy so how can they make a substantial improvement if they don't do anything substantial? To re-sign him will be expensive and with term. They better see him as a core piece on a championship club if they aren't selling him right now at his peak value.

At times Polak has looked okay again but other times he gets completely exploited. Carrick's offense has not improved to where he seems like he will be more than a bottom pairing guy for them. I actually don't mind him and on veteran a club with a less shaky D he could be a better fit but this Leafs lineup doesn't set him up to succeed. If they can upgrad thier 5-6-7 even a bit that makes them a better defensive team.

While I don't agree with cannucky about Gard's worth vs Rielly, one of them realistically should move if they want to change the defensive 'culture" of the team, and the biggest argument for it to be Gardiner may be that he will not be re-signing for $5M per.

 

[stickty111]

How about
Gardiner -Hainsey
XXXXXX- Dermott
Borgman-Holl
Carrick , Polak etc
If we decide to keep Polak on another 1 year deal then he could platoon with the third pair but it's time to move Marincin , Rielly and a couple of others . If we are keeping Dermott we have no need for Reilly , One non contact Offensive Defenseman is one too many forget about carrying two of them , my 6 year old wingman could feed Marner on the PP and not end up so far upside down in his 5v5 time .

How about stop saying false things Canucks fan.

How about
Rielly -Hainsey
XXXXXX- Dermott
Borgman-Holl
Carrick , Polak etc
If we decide to keep Polak on another 1 year deal then he could platoon with the third pair but it's time to move Marincin , Gardiner and a couple of others . If we are keeping Dermott we have no need for Gardiner , One non contact head fake Offensive Defenseman is one too many forget about carrying two of them , my 6 year couldnt old wingman feed Marner on the PP and not end up so far upside down in his 5v5 time

 

[thewave]

We should trade Jake unless we can sign him for about the same money.

 

[Battle Lin]

hainsey had a good 1st half but he showed his age as the season went on and his play took a hit, still a solid top 4 D that should be playing in our 2nd pair

 

[Sypher04]

How about
Gardiner -Hainsey
XXXXXX- Dermott
Borgman-Holl
Carrick , Polak etc
If we decide to keep Polak on another 1 year deal then he could platoon with the third pair but it's time to move Marincin , Rielly and a couple of others . If we are keeping Dermott we have no need for Reilly , One non contact Offensive Defenseman is one too many forget about carrying two of them , my 6 year old wingman could feed Marner on the PP and not end up so far upside down in his 5v5 time .

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about between this post and the one that preceded it.