He may not have ever belonged to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the departure of Sam Gagner will certainly be felt within the organization.
Sam Gagner had every right to treat his brief tenure with the Toronto Marlies this season like an insult. He was never supposed to be there.
After a breakout campaign in 2016-17 earned Gagner a lucrative 3-year, $9.45 million deal from the Vancouver Canucks the following summer, the whirlwind nature that had engulfed his past two years – sending him careening across 4 different teams in 2 different leagues – appeared to be over.
Used in a predominantly third line role during his first season in Vancouver, Gagner’s 31 points in 74 games landed him 7th in team scoring and third amongst centres, behind only Henrik Sedin and Bo Horvat. It was the type of production which, frankly, any team would expect from their third-line pivot.
Gagner’s underlying numbers that season, while not sparkling by any means, still failed to paint him as the sub-NHL-calibre player the Canucks organization would soon view him to be.
Per Natural Stattrick, the 47.1% CF/60 Gagner put forth at 5v5 was actually the 8th highest mark amongst all Canucks players who had played a minimum of 62 games and signalled the first time he’d dipped below the 50% Mendoza line in that regard since 2013-14. The 2017-18 Canucks also finished the year holding the 8th lowest PDO in the entire NHL – bad luck which filtered down throughout the roster and left Gagner handcuffed with a 97.7.
Still, most considered the newly-signed Gagner to have undergone a “down year”.
The most confounding aspect of his subsequent demotion was that it never had to happen.
Financially, it’s not like Gagner was holding his team hostage. According to Cap Friendly, Vancouver had approximately $6 million worth of wiggle room prior to the opening day of the 2018-19 regular season and Gagner’s $3.15 million price tag accounted for just 3.9% of the $79.5 million ceiling. Even if management deemed that to be too high, it was highly unlikely that they had dreams of contention for the coming year and wanted to leave themselves with adequate space for additions at the deadline.
Even with Elias Petersson now slotting in down the middle, Gagner is a veteran of over 700 NHL games, a former first-round pick, and undoubtedly could have filled the role of valuable mentor to the roster’s litany of young stars.
Switch him to the wing, pump Gagner’s numbers via heavy minutes alongside Petersson, and Jim Benning may very well have been able to either recoup a valuable return on his investment or opted to sell him at the deadline for an asset harvest.
Unsurprisingly, Benning did neither of those things.
Viewing the $1.025 in savings he could gain from burying Gagner in the minors as the priority, Benning placed the 29-year-old on waivers on October 1st where he’d ultimately go unclaimed. From there, he seemed destined for AHL Utica.
But Gagner hails from the Toronto area. And with two small children, the Canucks spared him from yet another unexpected move and loaned him to the Marlies.
Which now brings us back to the start.
The emotions that stem from an unanticipated and, quite frankly, undeserved demotion 12 years into one’s career are complex and assuredly difficult for any athlete to grapple with.
This isn’t Gagner’s first bout of adversity, either. Since going 6th overall to the Edmonton Oilers in the 2007 draft, Gagner is one of many veterans to have experienced both the towering highs and cavernous lows of the hockey world.
He’s been a future pillar for a young up-and-coming team, missed extended periods of time to freak injury, been sent to the AHL, and traded twice within the span of one hour.
Gagner has set the single-game points record for the same team that once employed Wayne Gretzky, told he “couldn’t play centre at the NHL level” by a former GM, gone on to establish a career-best point total the year later playing exactly that and then sent to the AHL all over again.
This latest setback certainly wasn’t new. But Gagner, after going through all of that and emerging with what he thought as the promise of stability, had every right to process this demotion through the jaded perspective most wouldn’t have blamed him for developing.
Gagner, however, did not do that. Not even close. He joined the Marlies with a clear and open mind while expressing a willingness to fulfil any role the coaching staff required of him and speaking nothing but praise about the Leafs organization.
Most importantly, Gagner sought out to be a mentor.
That matters to the Marlies – a team that has seen a number of veterans enter their ranks amidst similar circumstances and simply refuse to buy in. Some, even, take their frustrations public.
Brooks Laich – he of fewer career NHL games and points than Gagner prior to his respective demotion – once famously declared,“ I’m not here just to be a mentor and be a good guy” to Joshua Kloke of The Athletic in 2017 and requested a trade if Leafs management no longer considered him to be part of their future.
Another veteran whose declining play led to a stint with the Marlies, Milan Michalek, expressed regret for waiving his no-movement clause just to end up in the AHL in 2016.
Gagner could claim to have an even more aggrieved case than both Laich and Michalek, given his higher production rate, more extensive track record, and the fact that he had recently signed a long-term contract. But he never uttered a single negative word about landing with the Marlies. Gagner never saw himself as being above the team, never carrying himself as someone whose superior skill level excluded him from putting in an equal effort.
That commitment did not go unnoticed by those around the team.
“He handled himself tremendously well down here,” said Sheldon Keefe following Gagner’s momentary promotion back up to the Canucks on November 18th.
“Both in his attitude and his effort, he was a great teammate. Great leader. Came down here to work on his game and get better and we treated him like he was any other player in the organization. I’m looking forward to him getting up there and doing well.”
It would have been all too easy for Gagner to refuse media requests altogether, considering how no one jumps at the chance to speak at length about their own struggles. Frankly, no one would have blamed him, either. But once more, Gagner did not do that. He stepped before the microphones whenever called upon, fielding questions which ranged from the oddity of his current situation to his integration into his new team.
Each time, Gagner answered them earnestly.
After his first home game with the Marlies, Gagner shifted the conversation away from his return to the AHL and opted to focus on how he could improve his play moving forward.
“I was happy to just come here and play games,” Gagner explained.
“I thought there was some good and some bad, and I think I definitely have better. So, I’m looking forward to getting some practice time in and getting my game at a point where I know I can get it.”
When quizzed on his first impressions with the organization, in which he’d spent less than a week at the time, Gagner replied by declaring it to be “Absolutely first class,”.
“The way they treat the guys, the resources we have, it’s pretty incredible for an American League team. It’s been fun to be here for the last little bit and I’m enjoying it so far.”
Time and time again, the opportunity arose for Gagner to easily vent his frustrations and bemoan his current standing. And each time, Gagner turned it down. He was nothing short of a model teammate to a young Marlies roster and did so amidst one of the most challenging stretches of his career.
Following the events of Thursday’s trade, which sent Gagner to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Ryan Spooner, Gagner will be back in the NHL, exactly where he belongs. Personally, it could not have happened to someone more deserving.
Here’s to someone who took each setback in stride and made his way out at the other end.
Thanks for reading!
All stats courtesy of naturalstattrick.com & hockeyreference.com
All salary information courtesy of capfriendly.com