The Toronto Maple Leafs were one of three teams out of the entire NHL to have two 50+ point defenseman.
Yet, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ fans are all over Jake Gardiner despite being one of 19 defenseman to reach 50 points this season. My question is, why is Gardiner hated so much?
Something that I personally do not understand is how fans use the “eye test” as if it is unbiased. Your eyes show you what you want to see, why else would we keep saying “this is our year” when the past Leafs teams were abysmal? Because we saw what we wanted to see, a successful Leafs team, while the rest of the league saw an embarrassment.
An example of that is how my eye test shows me that Gardiner is a good player because I focus on the good plays that he makes. A different person’s eye test shows them that Gardiner is a bad player because they focus on all of the bad plays that he makes. This is called “confirmation bias” and every single human being is guilty of it – you simply notice things that confirm what you already believe. It’s impossible to be alive and not fall victim to this phenomenon.
First it was Dion Phaneuf, then it was the goaltending and now it is Gardiner. When he is run out of town, who will be next? Morgan Rielly? William Nylander is already taking some heat despite posting back-to-back 61 point campaigns. I bet if Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were not here Nylander would not nearly get as much hate as he does now.
Just like Gardiner did not receive nearly as much hate when Phaneuf was still on the team as he does now. Do you know why? Because people were too focused on hating on Phaneuf that Gardiner could actually focus on playing hockey, not on his own team’s fans hating him for every decision he makes.
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation Bias is in every human being. You can not avoid it, you can only be aware of it. So how do we take it one step further to prove our points? Statistics. And yet, when any statistic are brought up showing how good of defenseman Gardiner is, some people just write it off like it means nothing.
Seriously? Your bias eyes are going to be right over stats? Fans like to say that Gardiner’s success comes from the Leafs being a good team, sure, it makes him better, but he made his own success. He has never been below 50 CF%. Even when playing for those terrible Leafs teams, he always had positive possession ratings. In 2015/16, when the Leafs finished last, Gardiner had a CF% of 57.9. You can not have 57% of the total shots and be a bad player. It’s impossible. These are Actual facts that prove a statement true and yet, to some, it will be disregarded as nothing. Like it can not be true, as if it is made up. That is where pride comes in.
Having the ability to put your pride away and say you were wrong and that Gardiner is actually a really good defenseman…because he is. The amount of hate he gets is disgusting, ever player makes mistakes. Hell, I love James Reimer and he let in some terrible goals, but despite him being an average goalie, it sucked when he was traded. That is our bias towards a certain player.
Having a defenceman who can score 50+ points in today’s NHL is way more difficult than you think. Only 16 out of 31 teams have one. Three teams out of those 16 have two of those players. The Leafs are one of them, and for a good reason, because both of those players are good. Not bad, good!
Conclusion
Gardiner makes mistakes, every player does, but do not only focus on his mistakes, focus on what he does right as well. He is one of the best skaters in the league and has play-making abilities that you would want from today’s defenseman. Not the 1980s defenseman, not the 1990s, 2000s, nope. Today’s defenseman. An agile, puck moving defenseman.
Gardiner is one of the best at doing that and the stats prove it, do not let your eyes fool you.