Jake Gardiner

[princedpw]

Mirtle just re-tweeted this:

Leafs get 3 years of Gardiner at under $1.2MM. Burning one on last year's team was a bummer. Burning 2nd in AHL is inexcusable.

Sure, if you don't take into consideration the very real possibility that playing this season with the Marlies could lead to his next contract having a smaller cap number than had he played the year with the Leafs.

Overall, I don't quite see Mirtle's logic in linking the place that Gardiner plays to his current salary, especially when the Leafs are approximately 7.5 million below the cap this year (and salaries above 1 million count no matter where they are?).  If his point is "wouldn't it be nice if the leafs were cup contenders, oh and, by the way, in constructing such an imaginary cup contending team, it is often useful to have good players on entry-level deals that suppress their salary" then I guess I'd buy that but it's neither here nor there.  I wonder what he'd tweet about the Oilers?

Anyway, the more important thing is for the leafs to develop good players, not just to use players that are cheap.  If it helps Gardiner's development to play him 30 minutes a night in the AHL then I'm all for it.  As has been reported in the past, at the very least, such a thing has never been known to hurt a player's development.

 

[Joe S.]

I remember something similar with Yannic Pereault back when he was with St. John's. A media push to get him in Toronto, but I seem to recall Pat Burns (or Fletcher) saying he just wasn't NHL ready...

In any case, I'm not comparing the 2 at a talent level, but more of a player being portrayed as 'unfairly marooned' in the AHL.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Mirtle just re-tweeted this:

Leafs get 3 years of Gardiner at under $1.2MM. Burning one on last year's team was a bummer. Burning 2nd in AHL is inexcusable.

Sure, if you don't take into consideration the very real possibility that playing this season with the Marlies could lead to his next contract having a smaller cap number than had he played the year with the Leafs.

lol @ "inexcusable".  Love the terminology these unbiased, objective media use sometimes.  Clearly he's jumping to that conclusion without considering your point which is probably going to save the Leafs huge money on the next contract... not that I think its why they are keeping him down longer. 

Gardiner was probably looking at PK Subban'ish level money had he been able to stay healthy and put together a 2nd full season like last year.  Now, he's probably going to get Cody Franson money.

Before you jump on Mirtle for the "inexcusable," like I said he re-tweeted it, it wasn't written by him.

And you think Gardiner's going to take a cut on his next deal?

EDIT: Well I guess it would be a TINY increase.

 

[Deebo]

I remember something similar with Yannic Pereault back when he was with St. John's. A media push to get him in Toronto, but I seem to recall Pat Burns (or Fletcher) saying he just wasn't NHL ready...

In any case, I'm not comparing the 2 at a talent level, but more of a player being portrayed as 'unfairly marooned' in the AHL.

There's always going to be some player not in the line-up or getting too much ice time that fans/media will complain about.

 

[bustaheims]

EDIT: Well I guess it would be a TINY increase.

It would be a fairly substantial increase in terms of guaranteed dollars relative to his current level of guaranteed dollars. It would represent an increase of roughly 33%.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

EDIT: Well I guess it would be a TINY increase.

It would be a fairly substantial increase in terms of guaranteed dollars relative to his current level of guaranteed dollars. It would represent an increase of roughly 33%.

He's probably going to want a fairly sweet deal to take up some UFA years, no?

 

[bustaheims]

He's probably going to want a fairly sweet deal to take up some UFA years, no?

For a long-term deal like that, yeah, but, the trend seems to be going away from those for young defencemen right now. My guess is his next deal will be a 2 or 3 year deal that will keep him an RFA at the end.

 

[Corn Flake]

And you think Gardiner's going to take a cut on his next deal?

EDIT: Well I guess it would be a TINY increase.

Not a cut but this could be the difference between his next deal being $2 mil / year and $3.5 mil / year or even more if you use comparables like Subban or Luke Schenn.

 

[Britishbulldog]

EDIT: Well I guess it would be a TINY increase.

It would be a fairly substantial increase in terms of guaranteed dollars relative to his current level of guaranteed dollars. It would represent an increase of roughly 33%.

That's what I was thinking. $0.875 MIL guaranteed this contract to $1.200 MIL guaranteed next.

 

[Redleaf]

Well, he's back...

Lets hope Jake can come in and continue to impress as he did most of last season.

This could be just the tonic needed to inject some mobility into this defense.

For the life of me, I cant understand why this decision took so long???

 

[Zee]

Hope he's ready, the spotlight will be on him.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Gardiner, Liles, Lupul, Kadri and Grabo/Frattin/MacArthur could be an explosive second PP unit.

 

[Redleaf]

Gardiner is only 1 of 30 rookie defensemen in the past 20 yrs to put up 30 pts or more in a rookie season.

Here is the list....

Check out who's sitting in the 19th spot.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&year_min=1993&year_max=&season_start=1&season_end=1&age_min=0&age_max=26&birth_country=&franch_id=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos=D&handed=&c1stat=points&c1comp=gt&c1val=30&c2stat=&c2comp=gt&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=points

 

[Zee]

Hard to believe Phaneuf at 3rd on that list.  Where is that Dion?

 

[caver]

waiting to be on the second pairing with Regehr...

 

[Corn Flake]

Hard to believe Phaneuf at 3rd on that list.  Where is that Dion?

I think a lot had to do with how good that Flames team was at the time he joined them.  They went downhill fast after that, and then he came to this team. Yeah.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Hard to believe Phaneuf at 3rd on that list.  Where is that Dion?

I think a lot had to do with how good that Flames team was at the time he joined them.  They went downhill fast after that, and then he came to this team. Yeah.

He was also averaging over 5:00 of PP time a game in his first 4 seasons in Calgary, as well as firing at least 230 shots in each season as well - 16, 13, 10 were his PP goal totals in his first 3 seasons.  He's averaged around 3:33 of PP time the last 2 seasons in Toronto.  He also had SH% of 8.3, 7.4, 6.5 in those first 3 seasons as well.  He's hardly shooting this season, an 82-game pace of just 147 or around 100~ less than his big offensive seasons in Calgary.

 

[Redleaf]

Gardiner played a pretty good game tonight, turnovers aside. He's young, and like a big chunk of this team, inexperienced. All the same, I can see this guy rounding into form in a season or two, (or sooner) and becoming a dominant power play quarterback. Tonight's goal really helped generate some confidence, and he elevated his game a few levels afterwards.

No matter what happens with this team this playoff year, it will most certainly benefit young guys like Gardiner, Kadri and Frattin, who I think will be our core group, along with Reimer for years to come.

 

[Beowulf]

Yeah we all know Gardiner has a lot of growing and improving to do in the defensive zone, and it showed again tonight on some plays.

But it also didn't help him any that his defense partner was O'Byrne, who not only didn't contribute anything but is supposed to be a "shutdown" guy and defensive insurance for Gardiner. Instead he acts more like an usher, directing the Bruins to Reimer and eventually the back of the net.

Either way Jake was very solid offensively and I agree this experience is invaluable, especially because it's against the Bruins who are a pretty experienced and gritty playoff team.

 

[Redleaf]

http://read.thestar.com/#!/article/5188e02993e8e4e9060bf9db-jake-gardiner-stepping-up-his-game-for-maple-leafs-dimanno