Jake Gardiner left the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Carolina Hurricanes last summer.
According to Elliotte Friedman on 31 Thoughts, the Hurricanes are shopping the ex-Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman, begging the question: should the Leafs bring him back?
Gardiner has three more years after this one at $4.05 million, but he also holds a modified no trade clause. And whether the Toronto Maple Leafs are on it or not is a mystery.
Although his points aren’t showing it, he’s still having a great year with the Hurricanes. The 29-year-old is on pace to have the best Corsi For % at even strength of his entire career. Gardiner has extremely strong shot-attempt, shots, scoring chances and high-danger scoring chance percentages. His expected goals is 53%.
Gardiner has been hurt by an absurdly low 96 PDO and a save percentage of under .906 when he’s on the ice. (all stats naturalstattrick.com).
Should the Toronto Maple Leafs Bring Back Gardiner?
Let’s be honest here: the real reason you clicked on this article was to see how crazy I was about trading for Gardiner — and in all honesty — I’m not crazy about it at all.
As much as it would be a great story for him to come back to the Toronto Maple Leafs, make the playoffs, then beat the Boston Bruins in the first round, it’s not a good idea at all.
Kyle Dubas moved on from him for a reason. It’s not a good fit for this team, or Gardiner either.
The City of Toronto basically drove the defenseman out of town with all that was said online. And I highly doubt Gardiner would even want to make a return to the Leafs.
I could even see the Toronto Maple Leafs being on his modified no-trade clause. Then again though, he did take most of the summer to decide his fate in the NHL.
He could have been waiting for Toronto to offer him a deal before signing anywhere else.
In all likelihood, the price tag on Gardiner would be way too much for the Toronto Maple Leafs, unless they could get their first-round pick back.
What a world it would be if they could get that back.
Dubas is looking for a right-shot defenseman, not a reunion with one who may not play the best every single night, including in the playoffs.
The options for players is shrinking with five teams already making trades and Dubas needs to make a move before it’s likely too late.
Asking prices for a defenseman are high, which is another reason why it’s taking the Toronto Maple Leafs so long to find the right fit.
Knowing Dubas though, he’ll probably trade for a player who nobody else is thinking of, like Gardiner.
I’m just kidding.
There’s three days left until the trade deadline and the Toronto Maple Leafs have assessed every need, except for their back end.
If they want to get a trade done, they better act fast before every defenseman that’s available is gone. Then, it’s on to trading for one this summer and I think nobody wants that.