13 Apr 2020 16:48:15
Leafs trade Kapanen
Carolina trades Gardiner*, 3rd
*Carolina retains 50%

I'm crazy I know. But Gardiner is at least worth the $2M cap hit for sure. And we know that him and Reilly play well together. And we know that he is an excellent offensive defenseman who would thrive under Keefe's system. And at only $2M, he is easily affordable.

We all know Carolina has a boner for Kapanen. And they have a huge surplus of defensemen. I can easily see them making this deal. And Gardiner is the exact type player Dubas' looks for in a trade or free agent signing - someone who is a bargain deal and has upside. He is the right size and plays the right style of game. After putting up with Ceci and Barrie this year, I think Leafs fans might even welcome having Gardiner back.

1.) 13 Apr 2020
13 Apr 2020 17:56:37
I would have kept Gardiner for his current cap hit and traded Kadri for someone else. I would do this immediately. Gardiner is at least as good as Barrie and he also has the added bonus of being a huge favorite of the team.

2.) 13 Apr 2020
13 Apr 2020 22:01:41
Gardiner, like McCabe before him, and like Murphy before him, took the brunt of the fans wrath for some reason, even though they were all good players for us.

3.) 13 Apr 2020
13 Apr 2020 22:22:44
Why Dubas went with Ceci over Gardiner is beyond me.

Signing Ceci means trading Marleau + 1st to unload his contract makes no sense. It cost us a 1st to gain $1.5M in cap space. We could have kept Marleau and our 1st and been no worse for it.

I know hindsite is 20/ 20.
But withoutt doubt, the Ceci signing is one of the worst moves I've seen Dubas make. And it's not like he didn't get surprised like he kinda did with Barrie and Kerfoot. Ceci sucked for years before coming to Toronto.

4.) 13 Apr 2020
13 Apr 2020 23:28:46
Always find someone. It was Gardiner when things went wrong, now it seems to be Nylander to a lot of fans. No matter what he does a lot of the fan base still calls him a bum.

5.) 14 Apr 2020
14 Apr 2020 02:49:56
Hindsight is 20/ 20 but I think most post saw that coming with Ceci. He has never been more than a bottom pairing guy playing to many minutes. Gardiner beside Reilly would have been at least as good.

6.) 14 Apr 2020
14 Apr 2020 11:04:35
Kappenan and Johnsson were signed with the
Money freed up from trading Marleau
Ceci trade was part of the price to get rid of Zaitsev
Bad contract. Ceci was signed for 1 year to buy Lilly
Some time and would’ve been traded at deadline
If he wasn’t injured!
Dubas clears 2 bad contracts Lou gave out!

7.) 14 Apr 2020
14 Apr 2020 18:42:01
Yeah, but we didn't have to sign Ceci. We could have let him walk and just signed Gardiner for the same money. Gardiner was, and still is, a far better defenseman than Ceci. We could have switched Gardiner over to play 1RHD beside Reilly instead of Ceci. Gardiner and Reilly worked very well together when they were paired up in the early days.

Dubas must have known Ceci wasn't a very good player. Did Gardiner really burn his bridges that bad here that they refused to take him back?

And even if they gave up on Gardiner, there must have been other options available at $4.5M that were better players than Ceci.