The Carolina Hurricanes have made quite a few moves this offseason, but are still lacking a Top 4 left-shot defenseman outside of Jaccob Slavin. Jake Gardiner, in my opinion, would be a perfect fit for the Hurricanes defensive core.
As of right now, the Carolina Hurricanes top-6 defense could look something like this: Jaccob Slavin and Dougie Hamilton as the first pairing, Brett Pesce and Justin Faulk as the second pairing, and Jake Bean/Haydn Fleury and Trevor van Riemsdyk as the third pairing.
While this doesn’t sound terrible, this defense is stacked on the right-hand side, but atrociously lacking in experience and skill on the left-hand side outside of the top pairing. This is where Jake Gardiner comes in.
Most of the Hurricanes’ current defensive lineup are offensive-minded two-way defenseman. Jake Gardiner, while still capable of putting up points, is undoubtedly a big body (6’2″, 203 lbs.) that would help solidify the Hurricanes on the back end, especially on the penalty kill and powerplay.
Now, I know what you’re saying. ‘Don’t Toronto fans hate him?’ Yes, indeed, they do. But Toronto fans hate almost everybody, and the Hurricanes have been very popular among Canadian teams here lately (looking at you, Montreal).
That being said, Gardiner has seen a slip in production lately. The 29 year-old blueliner went from scoring 52 points in 82 games played during the 2017-18 season, to scoring 30 points in 62 games played most recently in the 2018-19 season.
This, however, is not only due to the fact that playing in Toronto seems to be the most stressful job in the NHL, but the fact that Gardiner played 20 games less in 2018-19 than he did in 2017-18 due to a back injury sustained on February 25th. Gardiner would return for the playoffs, notching two assists in seven games played against the Boston Bruins in the opening round of the 2018-19 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Jake Gardiner has returned for the #Leafs team session, in his red sweater. Positive development for the defenceman. And the Leafs could certainly use him sooner than later. pic.twitter.com/uXuKh9Jd1Z
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) March 28, 2019
Gardiner would fit right in with the Carolina Hurricanes ‘grit and grind’ mentality that has pervaded the team since Rod Brind’amour took the helm as head coach. Gardiner, as I mentioned before, is a big guy who isn’t afraid to throw body checks and separate the puck carrier from the puck via physical force as opposed to throwing a stick check. Despite Gardiner’s offensive numbers taking a hit this season, he increased his hit totals from 51 in 17-18 to 61 in 18-19 in 20 less games.
Clearly, Gardiner’s defensive game is growing more physical and dominant in the defensive zone, but that isn’t always a bad thing. His defensive play reminds me of a more agile Tim Gleason in that he possesses a very ‘defense first’ mentality, which I think the Hurricanes could benefit greatly from.
The only caveat I have at this point is Gardiner’s salary demands, coupled with the Hurricanes’ cap situation. At this point in free agency, teams are running out of cap space, so players’ asking prices are going to steadily drop as the days go by. The Hurricanes, as of right now, have roughly $10.3M to spend before hitting the cap.
The Hurricanes also have 8 RFAs to sign: Saku Maenelanen, Gustav Forsling, Clark Bishop, Trevor Carrick, Roland McKeown, Haydn Fleury, Brock McGinn, and Anton Forsberg (the latter two of the eight have filed for salary arbitration).
If the Hurricanes can manage to lock their remaining RFAs down to cost-efficient contracts (there will be plenty of 2-way contracts in the mix with these names as well), they should be able to sign Gardiner for his reported asking price, which lies around $6M AAV in a 5-year contract or thereabouts.
This would put the Hurricanes very close to the cap ceiling, and they would be foregoing signing an additional Top-6 forward, but if Justin Williams re-signs, that shouldn’t be much of a problem.
All of this being said, I’m wholly confident in Tom Dundon and Don Waddell’s vision for the team, and I have every reason to believe that they are making moves that will undoubtedly lead to the Hurricanes’ return to the playoffs for the 2019-20 season. Only time will tell, but I have a feeling Waddell and Co. are not done making moves with the pieces that are left in free agency.
Question for CC Readers: Which other UFAs should the Hurricanes pursue?