{"id":21130,"date":"2018-01-08T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=21130"},"modified":"2018-01-07T19:12:14","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T00:12:14","slug":"jake-gardiner-is-really-good-but-still-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2018\/01\/08\/jake-gardiner-is-really-good-but-still-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Gardiner is Really Good, But Still Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jake Gardiner<\/a><\/strong> has been one of the most interesting players the Toronto\u00a0Maple Leafs<\/a> have had in years. Maybe not if you think consistent magic, see Auston Matthews<\/a><\/strong>, or crazy beard pulls, see Nazem Kadri<\/a><\/strong>, are interesting. But if you want to watch a player that can leave you drooling for more and hiding your face in the same game, Gardiner is your man.<\/p>\n

Jake Gardiner is Really Good, But Still Learning<\/h2>\n

The Background<\/h3>\n

Gardiner was sixth in Calder voting in his rookie year. He was supposed to be the team\u2019s eventual number one defender. Gardiner was supposed to impress the hockey world with his incredible ability night in and night out. He was supposed to be a guy the Leafs swindled from the Anaheim Ducks<\/a>. Well, one out of three ain\u2019t bad.<\/p>\n

Over his 6+ seasons with the Maple Leafs, Gardiner has flashed some amazing skills, put up good numbers, and good advanced stats. Yet he has never lived up to the hype that surrounds him. In a single game, or play, and maybe a playoffs series in the near future, he has teased us with his skill. He has a good wrist shot and slap shot. He can rush the puck. Gardiner can quarterback a powerplay. He even had a breakout season, with 43 points in 2016-17. However, he can also make such dumbfounding mistakes that one cannot help but question all his positives.<\/p>\n

Babcock\u2019s take<\/h3>\n

Mike Babcock<\/strong> plays Gardiner a lot. He\u2019s second in average ice time this season behind only\u00a0Nikita Zaitsev<\/a><\/strong>. It\u2019s hard to argue against that for a few reasons. One obvious reason is who else is he going to play those minutes? Morgan Rielly<\/a><\/strong><\/a> and Ron Hainsey<\/a><\/strong> play just about as much as Gardiner. After that, the Leafs don\u2019t have players that should play ahead of him.<\/p>\n

Another reason he plays so much is that he\u2019s still an asset to the team despite the mistakes he makes. His Corsi For and his Relative Corsi For have been positive for the past three seasons<\/a>. The frustrating aspect is that both have dropped the past three consecutive seasons. His CF% in 2015-16 was 54.4. That dropped to 52.6 last year. It is 50.1 this year.<\/p>\n

The biggest reason Babcock gives him top pairing minutes is that Gardiner still has that potential. He\u2019s 27 years old. For a defenseman, he is still green. He still has room to grow. And he needs the experience to get there. No one learns from doing well. We learn from making mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still a young team that is learning how to win.\u201d –Mike Babcock<\/a> January 4th<\/sup>, 2018<\/p>\n

That quote wasn\u2019t from last year. It was from a couple days ago. The Leafs are still a young team, Gardiner is still a young player among many. Although he doesn\u2019t seem like a young player. The Leafs average age is 27.6, and that\u2019s with a few players (Patrick Marleau<\/a><\/strong> 38, Dominic Moore<\/a><\/strong> 37, Hainsey 36, and back up goaltender Curtis McElhinney<\/a><\/strong> 34) long in the tooth and dragging that age up. Gardiner seems older because he\u2019s been with the Leafs almost seven years, and the Leafs are blessed with a plethora of young, skilled players. Relative to many players on the team, Gardiner is old. But for a defenseman, he\u2019s really not old at all.<\/p>\n

Just how young?<\/h3>\n

Gardiner is the second oldest Leaf defenseman after Roman Polak<\/a><\/strong><\/a> and Hainsey. And most people believe Polak shouldn\u2019t be anywhere close to the Leafs top six. Babcock,\u00a0of course, is not most people.<\/p>\n

On the San Jose Sharks<\/a>, Gardiner would be the fifth oldest defenseman, with the sixth just a few months younger. It\u2019s said that defensemen ripen later than forwards. Players like Erik Karlsson<\/a><\/strong>, Shea Weber<\/a><\/strong><\/a>, and P.K. Subban<\/a><\/strong> were great by 23, but other than a one great season at age 22,\u00a0Brent Burns<\/a><\/strong> didn\u2019t get Norris consideration till he was 29. \u00a0And no one is expecting Gardiner to match any of those players, but being a tier below them is realistic. Gardiner is still on pace to be a solid defenseman, despite taking a step backward in the first half of this season.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/h3>\n

One of the differences between this year\u2019s Maple Leafs and the previous 10 iterations is that there are expectations to be competitive, to be good. Not just from a rabid fan base. The Maple Leafs are on a road towards true and consistent Stanley Cup contention. That\u2019s not something many fans have lived through. It\u2019s no longer okay for players like Gardiner to look good sometimes but to also make costly mistakes. It\u2019s time to stop making those mistake, learn to win, then actually win. But the team is still on that road. They haven\u2019t won anything.<\/p>\n

Expectations and reality are not the same. The Leafs overachieved last year. That\u2019s not to say they shouldn\u2019t improve upon last year, but the road to contention has sped up. That\u2019s driven the expectations up and lowered many fans\u2019 patience with the players.<\/p>\n

What if?<\/h3>\n

Imagine for a moment that the Leafs had not traded for Frederik Andersen<\/a><\/strong> and sent Mitch Marner<\/a><\/strong><\/a> back to Junior last year. That they had opted for another season of taking bad contracts for draft picks and icing a non-playoff team. That\u2019s something they could have easily done. Babcock promised pain. I haven\u2019t seen much pain. The pain Leaf fans have endured since they hired Babcock is akin to a small tattoo on a patch of skin slathered with numbing cream. Yeah, it hurts, I guess.<\/p>\n

If the Leafs had missed the playoffs last year. The play of Gardiner this year might still be considered part of his learning curve. People might say he\u2019s getting those kinks out his game before the true contention years begin. Instead, and don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m not complaining, the team is in a win-now mode this year. Players\u2019 mistakes, gaffs, and inefficiencies are now heavily scrutinized.<\/p>\n

Of the players expected to stick around on the Leafs long-term, Gardiner is the poster boy for \u2018not good enough\u2019 (also Mike Babcock<\/a> Dec 20, 2017 after a 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a>). The reality is that he is<\/em> good enough. He\u2019s not the number one defenseman the team needs to jump to that next level in the NHL. He\u2019s a second pairing defenseman on a Stanley Cup contending team, or he will be, maybe, we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>