A Healthy Jake Gardiner Gives the Hurricanes a Perfect Defense
It looks like the Carolina Hurricanes will be getting another boost on defense this season.
32-year-old Jake Gardiner missed all of last season after having multiple surgeries. Now, it appears as though the veteran blueliner is gearing up for his return to the ice.
The last time he suited up in the NHL, he played 26 games for the Hurricanes in the 2020-2021 season. He tallied eight assists and was a minus-one in those contests.
In his career, Gardiner has played in 645 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Hurricanes. He has 277 points (49 goals and 228 assists) in that time, including a 53-point campaign with the Leafs back in 2018.
Gardiner’s return gives the Hurricanes all they could want on defense.
Of course, any time a player has two major procedures done and misses a full season, there are bound to be questions about how effective he can be upon coming back. While those questions will be justified, Gardiner’s return to the lineup sets the Canes up perfectly on defense.
He will slot in on the left side, where Jaccob Slavin and Brady Skjei already roam. That will limit the expectations for Gardiner, allowing him to play in the bottom pairing as he gets his skating legs under him.
On the right side, Carolina went out and got Brent Burns from the San Jose Sharks to replace the departed Tony DeAngelo. Brett Pesce and Ethan Bear will round out the top-three defensemen on the right side.
With Gardiner completing that group of top six defensemen, Jalen Chatfield and newcomer Dylan Coghlan can be used as the seventh and eighth defensemen. Both have some NHL experience, but not a lot, making this a great spot for them to slot in for the Hurricanes.
In goal, Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta will be back this year, giving Carolina, which boasted the league’s number one defense and penalty kill a season ago, a perfect lineup of players on defense.
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Time will tell exactly how effective Jake Gardiner will be, but with the upside that he brings to the lineup and the talent that surrounds him in Raleigh, he will help make the Hurricanes a defensive juggernaut in the 2022-2023 season.