Jake Gardiner, in desperate need of a turning point, hopes his goal will be one
There was finally, after 28 generally miserable games for Jake Gardiner, a moment of joy. That it came not long after another moment of despair summed up the way the Carolina Hurricanes defenseman’s season has gone.
But that leap into the boards after Gardiner’s goal Thursday night was pure elation, unadulterated and unrestrained, the sun shining through the clouds after all the dark skies. Whether that goal can lead to better days ahead for Gardiner is an open question. Even he would admit it would be hard for things to get any worse.
“It’s been tough,” Gardiner said after a 3-2 shootout win over the San Jose Sharks, as honest a sentiment as it was an understatement. “I’ve just got to stick with it and eventually it will go my way.”
And did Gardiner ever need something to go his way. He and Haydn Fleury combined to misplay the Sharks’ first goal Thursday, Fleury spinning aimlessly to one side of Petr Mrazek, Gardiner losing his man on the other. That came on the heels of Gardiner’s glaring turnover Tuesday at the Boston Bruins, fumbling the puck at the blueline with four minutes to go in a hard-fought scoreless game for the go-ahead goal the other way, yet another gaffe in a season unexpectedly full of them.
By the standards of Gardiner’s game-deciding turnovers against the Bruins, this didn’t even top the list. His misplay behind his own net in Game 7 of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ first-round series against the Bruins last spring contributed to the Leafs’ elimination. The Leafs would have brought him back anyway, but were trapped in salary-cap jail. While Gardiner lingered on the market, the Hurricanes pounced in September with a four-year deal worth $4.05 million a season, bringing in another power-play capable blueliner and paving the way for Justin Faulk’s departure.
They knew there could be some growing pains. They didn’t expect him to have this much trouble making the adjustment to Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour’s system, which asks defensemen to make many more decisions and many more plays than Gardiner was in Toronto. Dougie Hamilton went through some of this last season, and injuries as well, only to come out the other side in the spring.
“Right away, it was kind of the systems,” Gardiner said. “I think I’m starting to get used to it. Honestly, I think a lot of it is puck luck. I haven’t been on the ice for a lot of goals and vice versa, so that’s just how it’s going right now.”
No one takes plus/minus very seriously these days, but when you’re minus-18 and your next worst teammate is minus-7 and the best is plus-15, that’s certainly a sign that something’s out of whack. And those numbers aren’t skewed because Gardiner is piling up points on the power play, as can sometimes happen.
So the question is, how do the Hurricanes get Gardiner back to being to be the player they signed four months ago? There are always going to be gaps in his defensive game, as a high-risk, high-reward player. But they can’t suffer the gifts, and they need some offense to balance it out. The struggles have clearly taken a mental toll on Gardiner, so the calls for a stint in the press box would probably be counterproductive (and the other options aren’t dramatically better).
The Hurrricanes will continue to show confidence in him and live with the consequences, for now.
“We keep putting him out there. That’s all you can do,” Brind’Amour said. “I think a goal like that, hopefully will let him relax a little bit. We know he’s trying. We’ve all been there. I’ve been there. It’s tough when you get in a rut to just kind of get out of it. Hopefully this will springboard him.”
All of which made his goal Thursday, his second of the season, such a potential turning point. He finished an odd-man rush with an exchange of passes with Warren Foegele -- in one of his best games of the season -- and was able to flip a shot past Aaron Dell in tight quarters in front while being tightly checked.
It was a very skilled play from a defenseman in the rush, the kind of thing the Hurricanes need from Gardiner, the kind of thing Gardiner needs from himself.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 11:00 PM.
