The Dream Is Over: Toronto Maple Leafs Lose Jake Gardiner to Free Agency

The one thing that we were hoping for the Toronto Maple Leafs to do all summer has failed to materialize.

Somehow, someway, up until yesterday at 2 PM, we were hoping Jake Gardiner would find a way to stay with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He wanted to stay, the team wanted to keep him, and the best of the fans were all really hoping he’d come back.

Unfortunately, he signed with the Hurricanes for four years and $16 million.

Jake Gardiner and the Toronto Maple Leafs

This is a town that venerates Tie __ Domi and never accepted Mats Sundin as their savior, so the kind of people who don’t like Jake Gardiner don’t exactly have a history of rational fandom.

Sure, Gardiner’s high-risk game would result in the odd gaffe, but the back of his sweater should have read CONFIRMATION BIAS for all that really mattered.

The fact of the matter is that when Gardiner was on the ice, the Leafs outscored, outshot, outchanced and outpossessed their opponents.

Consistently and over years and years.

Given his reputation, it’s ironic that his biggest impact was defensively, because of his amazing ability to pass, skate and keep the puck going the other way.

But he was also a 40-50 point defenseman, impressive because he was never more than a second unit power-play producer.

Over the last few years, only a handful of defenseman have better results, league wide.

The Carolina Hurricanes were willing to give a 28 year old player with a bad back a four year deal.   As such, they get Gardiner on a massive discount, as he should be worth a minimum of $7 million based on his comparables.

The Leafs should have just bit the bullet and given him four years. I know it’s risky, but Gardiner was the longest serving member of the team, and he was here through all the rough years, and he took so much crap because of it.

He deserved to be here when the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup. Few players are as beloved by their teammates or have higher character.

You can’t blame a player with a bad back for taking a four year deal, over what I imagine were a lot of single-year options with a higher cap-hit.

Jake Gardiner was never properly appreciated by the team’s fans, but like an underrated Coen Brother’s movie, or a Wilco album, he is an underappreciated gem that those who know better for can enjoy on their own.

Gardiner leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs as their 9th all-time scoring defenseman with 81 goals, 169 assists and 245 points.  He was 11th in games played for a defenseman. (Quanthockey.com).

He will move to Carolina knowing he was one of the best defenseman in the history of an original six team.   Can’t beat that.

We do wish he was returning to the Leafs.