Gardiner clearly has a future in Toronto. Whether he is still on the "untouchable" list may be a fair question, however. Not because the Leafs don't like him a lot but because of his value. I hate giving up young defensemen, ever. But hard to say what the Leaf brass is thinking.
I don't think, in fairness, this is "making a story out of nothing". Developing players - properly - is always a good thing, of course. But given the Leafs' history, discussing how these types of situations will be handled in the months ahead is fair game, in my view.
