He's a legit 2-3 guy. People don't realize how he can eat up minutes in crunch time. He had a bad series against the Bruins last year, but he was very good against Washington the year prior (arguably our best Dman) and when we need a guy to step up and play 30+ minutes he can do it no problem.
Apparently you forgot game 2 of the Washington series where they went to double OT and Gardiner played north of 30 minutes and was arguably the best player on the ice. Or that in general he was arguably the Leafs best player of the series and played 28+ minutes a game. Or when Rielly got a high ankle sprain in 2016-2017 and Gardiner played an instrumental role in carrying the D down the stretch and basically playing as the #1D as the Leafs tried to secure a playoff spot.
Apparently you forgot game 2 of the Washington series where they went to double OT and Gardiner played north of 30 minutes and was arguably the best player on the ice.
Gardiner has his flaws but his best quality is his conditioning and cardio, he tends to get better as the season goes on because the league tightens up and guys get tired / go cold, while he's still operating at 100%, and in the playoffs he plays big minutes.
You wanna crap on the guy go ahead but let's not get into overdramatic garbage meme territory here.
My point was that if he is needed to step up and play big minutes, he can do it when the time comes and he proved it in the past, as his conditioning is probably his strongest quality. Obviously he is not regularly playing 30 minutes a night, nobody does in regular season and Babcock likes to conserve minutes. In the Washington series even outside of the double OT game he was playing 26-28 minutes a night and was the best defenseman by a country mile in that series and one of the best players in general.Lol relax I'm not crapping on him, you're correct in that I forgot the one time he did that(in a double OT game so of course he did!). He's averaged 21 minutes a night this season, like his career average, so forgive me for thinking you're being a bit hyperbolic with "he can step up and play 30 minutes a night no problem." "Overdramatic"? that's what you called me? Some of you guys are impossible. Your post seemed to imply that he is that caliber of player that could log Karlsson playoff run type minutes as a non issue...that's just a bad opinion.
My point was that if he is needed to step up and play big minutes, he can do it when the time comes and he proved it in the past, as his conditioning is probably his strongest quality. Obviously he is not regularly playing 30 minutes a night, nobody does in regular season and Babcock likes to conserve minutes. In the Washington series even outside of the double OT game he was playing 28-29 minutes a night and was the best defenseman by a country mile in that series and one of the best players in general.
No d-man will ever play 30 minutes regularly in a Babcock team, unless there are injuries or it's a game that goes multiple overtimes. In general playing a guy 30+ minutes is unnecessary except in the very specific scenarios.Okay well this is a lot closer to reality I still think this praise is getting over the top, though he was good, also he only averaged 22 minutes in last years playoffs so I suspect the Capitals series was likely a one and done example of this. I understand that his conditioning is good but were really talking about one 7 game sample size, I still think my confusion at your claim was 100 percent warranted. I don't want Jake on the ice for 30 minutes in game, basically ever, he's certainly not good enough to "handle those minutes no problem" despite having done it once.
No d-man will ever play 30 minutes regularly in a Babcock team, unless there are injuries or it's a game that goes multiple overtimes. In general playing a guy 30+ minutes is unnecessary except in the very specific scenarios.
The Capitals series was also not a 'one and done' example. Many individual games in his career, Jake has stepped up and played 26-30 minutes due to things like another d-man getting injured in the game, or Babcock leaning on him more because of the situation (e.g. Leafs were down a goal or two and needed to catch up, or protecting a lead). When Rielly went down in the 16-17 season (and subsequently came back and struggled until the playoffs), Jake was utilized as the #1D and played a big role in helping them secure a playoff berth and had a few games where he played those minutes.
He also looked great against the Bruins in 2013, and pushed 26-28 minutes in a couple of the games then too.
My overall point is that he is capable of playing big minutes fairly reliably, and can step up and go above and beyond from time to time too. It's going to suck when he's a cap casualty this summer because that's a big hole to fill and currently we don't have the pieces to nullify his loss completely. Dermott can hopefully step up, but he's still a bit raw, and then someone has to replace Dermott on the third pairing, and we also need to upgrade Hainsey. I hope Dubas can make a suave acquisition.
If this is how you wanna see it that's fine. You interpreted it differently from what I meant, I mean I thought it would be common sense that Jake isn't going to be regularly playing 30+ minutes (seeing as nobody on Babcock's teams do that) and that's what I was trying to explain since your initial reply was literally just a meme and then you needed it spelled out in terms of what I meant . Anyways I'm done here, I don't care to discuss this any further.You said: when we need a guy to step up and play 30+ minutes he can do it no problem. What you meant was "he played 30 plus minutes once due to a double overtime game and is capable of logging league average number one minutes when he must" and yeah that's fine. You were hyperbolic, I called you on it, you overreacted again and now your just arguing with no one but quoting me in your replies. Your overall point is fine, I totally agree. Moving on...
If this is how you wanna see it that's fine. You interpreted it differently from what I meant, I mean I thought it would be common sense that Jake isn't going to be regularly playing 30+ minutes (seeing as nobody on Babcock's teams do that) and that's what I was trying to explain since your initial reply was literally just a meme and then you needed it spelled out in terms of what I meant . Anyways I'm done here, I don't care to discuss this any further.