Jake Gardiner has gotten a bad rap during his tenure on the Toronto Maple Leafs. I should know, I hated him for years.
The Toronto Maple Leafs knew better, and it’s good that they didn’t listen to their fans, because Jake Gardiner has become a great defenseman and an indispensable part of the team.
I didn’t like Jake for probably for the same reasons as many others: giveaways. Giveaways tend to be the main thing people cite as a reason for their dislike of Gardiner, and that was my reason too.
Gardiner’s giveaways became a “thing” so people notice when they happen and it confirmed their previously held beliefs that he was a bad defenseman. We now have a massive sample size of his play that shows that he doesn’t give the puck away any more or less than another defenseman playing the same minutes. It is just confirmation bias because Gardiner’s defensive metrics are actually halfway decent.
Jake Gardiner
A 50 point defenseman last year, Gardiner has been used as the Leafs #1 5v5 defenseman and has taken on a share of the tough competition that Morgan Rielly was getting last year.
Gardiner has 31 giveaways at this point of the season. Morgan Rielly, Nikita Zaitsev, and Ron Hainsey all have more than him and John Tavares only has 3 less than him. All good players have the puck a lot and so they give the puck away. Hockey is a fast game and it can’t be helped.
Now we all know Gardiner isn’t the meanest defenseman out there but I have noticed he is making a lot more hits than last year. The numbers back it up.
Last year Gardiner had 51 hits, this season he is on pace for 75. It may not seem like much but that is a 50 percent increase for him. I do not think this is very important to his play, but many don’t like that he’s not a very physical guy, but so far it appears he’s making the effort to be more physical.
Now for your favorite part, the shot metrics! Gardiner carries a CF% of 50.1. That is the same percentage as Morgan Rielly, all with harder competition, and about 5% more defensive zone starts.
This is not what impresses me, what impresses me is the high danger chances. Gardiner’s HDCF% is 53.49. For context, Morgan Rielly has an HDCF% of 49.28 and look at the season he is having.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are getting more dangerous chances when he is on the ice than Morgan Rielly and that’s great.
Points have never been a problem for Jake, and he is on pace for 51 points. That is one less point than last year but he is also on the 2nd powerplay.
So there you have it, Gardiner is hitting more, giving the puck away less, and scoring at the same pace as usual all against harder competition than the rest of the D core.
Gardiner is a good hockey player, I used to hate him but I have come to appreciate him on this team. I hope you can too.
(Stats taken from www.NaturalStatTrick.com, www.hockey-reference.com, and www.corsica.hockey)