Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Jake Gardiner tries to catch Montreal Canadiens Tomas PlekanecFrank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Jake Gardiner was given a pass from the NHL's school of hard knocks Friday morning but it remains to be seen if it is a temporary one or not.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle put the 24-year-old defenceman back in the lineup for Friday night's opener in a back-to-back, home-and-home set against the Detroit Red Wings. He will skate with fellow youngster Morgan Rielly after spending two games in the press box, the latest slap upside the head issued by Carlyle in his effort to get the offensively talented Gardiner to develop an all-round game suitable for regular NHL employment.
"I expect him to play to a higher level, move the puck more effectively, be stronger defensively, take the body when it presents itself," Carlyle said after the Leafs' game-day skate. "There's always so much made about what has to be done. [Gardiner] just has to be a hockey player, an effective hockey player. That's all I ask of any of the players but you guys don't seem to get that."
Carlyle was talking about the media in his latter comment but he could just as easily been talking about his players. He is as old-school a coach as it gets these days, where the curriculum for young players like Gardiner can be summed up as "you figure it out." As in, there is a reason you're not playing and it is up to you to understand why by talking to your assistant coaches, talking to your more experienced teammates and listening to your head coach. Don't expect your head coach to sit down, hold your hand and explain every little nuance of NHL life.
There is a tendency among young players, especially those blessed with the kind of skating and puck-handling ability that Gardiner has, to think their ability to go coast-to-coast the odd time should be enough to keep them in the lineup. Back in the day, Carlyle's playing days in the 1980s with the Maple Leafs for example, this might have been true.
Carlyle's old teammate Ian Turnbull was a defenceman a lot like Gardiner. He could run up the points but was indifferent to the need to play hard in his own end. The state of the Leafs was such that Turnbull could get away with it. The coaches needed his offence so he stayed in the lineup.
Today's Leafs need Gardiner to play better in his own end, which includes getting the puck moving up the ice, much more than they need points from him. It was made clear to Gardiner in training camp he can't let opposing players stroll at will through the Leafs zone and he needs to be faster with the first pass out of the zone or at moving the puck himself if the situation calls for it. Both ends of his game have to be working to stay in the lineup.
"I look at it as general play," Carlyle said of what goes into his decision to keep a player in the lineup. "I look at the contribution your players are making to your lineup. It's got to be all inclusive. You just can't say he's got to do one thing better.
"To play in the National Hockey League, you have to demonstrate a skill set that allows you to become comfortable to accomplish a lot of things out there, a lot of different things in situations."
This is nothing new for Gardiner. He came back from purgatory in the spring of 2013 to be one of the Leafs' best defencemen by the end of their playoff series against the Boston Bruins. But a slow start last season found him a healthy scratch more often than not almost a year ago, although he came on strong at the end of the season.
He is now of the age where he has to start showing he gets it. By signing him to a five-year, $20-million (U.S.) contract in July the Leafs showed Gardiner they expect him to overcome these growing pains but that has to come soon.
"I wasn't playing my game, so that's how it goes sometimes" Gardiner said. "I just have to battle back. I'm just trying to help my team out."
Veteran defenceman Stephane Robidas, who is showing the effects of missing training camp while recovering from a broken leg, appears to be the one who will sit in favour of Gardiner. Rookie Stuart Percy will stay in the lineup and play with veteran Roman Polak while the new pairing of Dion Phaneuf and Cody Franson will stay together.
James Reimer will start in goal for the Leafs tonight at the Air Canada Centre with Jonathan Bernier expected to face the Red Wings in Detroit on Saturday.