Jake Gardiner prepares to move the puck out of the Maple Leafs’ zone last month in Edmonton. The defenceman has become a key player in Toronto’s much improved puck-possession game.
Jake Gardiner didn't know what to think a few years ago when Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle told him to toughen up.
"It's not like I'm a Matt Martin-type guy where I'm going to hit guys and plow them over," the Toronto defenceman said this week, referring to the NHL's hits leader for five years running. "I'm not sure really what the whole deal was there."
Gardiner's career stalled for the two-plus years that Carlyle coached the Leafs. His time under Carlyle was marked by stints as a healthy scratch, incessant trade talk, stinging minor-league demotions, and not-so-subtle frustration from the man behind the bench. Gardiner looked uncomfortable in the harsh Toronto media spotlight.
That was then.
These days the 26-year-old fits in nicely under Carlyle's full-time replacement, Mike Babcock.
Gardiner ranks as the Leafs' top driver of puck possession this season (54.6 per cent), leading the group with 24 minutes (including 10-plus in the third period) and 13 shot attempts in a one-goal loss to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night.
"I just think he's a way better player than he was a year and a half ago," Babcock said of Gardiner's evolution since he took over Toronto's bench.
Gardiner's escape from centre stage is thanks in part to the influx of talented youngsters such as Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, who are sucking up most of the oxygen. But it's also the result of a connection between player and coach that was lacking before Babcock's arrival.
The former first-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks says Babcock allows him to be himself on the ice, not asking that he transform into a different type of defenceman.
"I think he just realizes that I'm not going to be a guy that kills guys or hits guys," said Gardiner, averaging less than one hit per-game this year. "I'm going to be in the right positions most of the time and move the puck well and make that first pass. I think he just realizes that that's my game and kind of ran with it I guess."
Babcock isn't sure if Gardiner's improvement is tied to a surge in confidence, natural progression with age or increased comfort as a defender, but he recognizes the player's importance.
"He generates offence for us. He doesn't spend a whole lot of time in his own zone and can play against good players," Babcock said. "He's getting better defensively every day and we think he's an important part of our team."
Acquired from Anaheim in January, 2011, Gardiner got to Toronto as a 20-year-old and found a kindred spirit in former Leafs coach Ron Wilson, who wanted the Leafs always on the attack, an approach that played well to a player who liked to dart up the ice and make plays with the puck.
Gardiner averaged almost 22 minutes in his first Leafs season, putting up 30 points in 75 games and earning a place on the NHL's all-rookie first team.
"[Ron] was a lot more relaxed and kind of let me play my game and then Randy was the opposite. He was a defensive guy. I just never really found my stride under him," Gardiner said.
Beyond his hopes of instilling more physicality into Gardiner's defensive game, Carlyle (who replaced Wilson in March of Gardiner's rookie year) was also wary of his defender's play with the puck. Gardiner took chances to make things happen and naturally those attempts sometimes backfired. The defensive-minded coach didn't like the unpredictability and tried to temper it, which resulted in uncertainty in Gardiner's game.
He was afraid to make mistakes and played that way.
The coach's tough-love approach didn't work either. Carlyle scratched Gardiner, who had just signed a five-year contract with the Leafs, three games into the 2014-15 season. When media asked what he could do to impress once he got back in the lineup, Carlyle responded bluntly: "Play better."
Teams in the age of advanced analytics are realizing that good defence means not playing any defence at all. Defenders like Gardiner, who rely on positioning, skating and stick work to get the puck up and out of the defensive zone, help you do that.
"And that's what you want: get out of your zone quick and get on offence," Leafs defenceman Matt Hunwick said of Gardiner and the modern approach to defence.
Toronto has garnered 57 per cent of available scoring chances when Gardiner is on the ice at even-strength, one of the top marks among all NHL defencemen this season.
Babcock recognizes how Gardiner helps his team and encourages it, though he's still pushing him to retrieve pucks even faster.