What should the Maple Leafs do with Jake Gardiner?

It’s misguided to pin Toronto’s first-round loss to the Bruins on any individual player when so many underperformed throughout the series.

Auston Matthews, despite good underlying numbers, didn’t produce, neither did William Nylander. Frederik Andersen, although instrumental in stealing a few games, allowed one too many uncharacteristically soft goals. Nazem Kadri’s reckless play hurt his team, James van Riemsdyk disappeared when the whistles went away, and the team’s defence as a whole was a total disaster.

But nobody is wearing that loss as much as Jake Gardiner, and understandably so. He was brutal in Game 7, and to his credit he owned that after the game.

Gardiner was minus-5 on the night and played a leading role in three crucial goals — Boston’s second to tie it 2-2, Jake DeBrusk’s go-ahead goal in the third and David Pastrnak’s insurance marker. He took the most heat for his ill-advised pivot on the DeBrusk goal, but his effort on the Pastrnak goal is what makes him such a frustrating player at times.

Despite having the inside track and with nobody covering the front of the net, Gardiner changes course and allows Patrice Bergeron get to the puck first, doesn’t tie him up and then is forced to scramble back to the slot where he gets schooled by Pastrnak.

Outside of his play defensively, Gardiner also struggled badly with the puck on his stick. Usually one of the Leafs’ best players at moving the puck up ice, Gardiner couldn’t even get that going in Game 7. He struggled to hit his man with the stretch pass and threw away the puck too often. On Boston’s second goal, Gardiner had plenty of time to make a play but got caught standing still and gave the puck back to the Bruins who then dumped it in, beat Gardiner twice in a battle along the boards and put a weak one past Andersen.

It’s important not to overreact to one very bad game, but Gardiner has been a polarizing player for a while now for exactly these reasons. Absolutely brilliant one night, maddeningly absent-minded the next.

Now, you don’t make personnel decisions based on what one segment of a fan base thinks of a player — that’s ridiculous. But at the same time, the Maple Leafs need to address their defence this offseason, which was an Achilles heel all season and badly exposed by the Bruins.

Complicating matters is the fact Gardiner is entering the final year of his contract.

Despite his flaws, Gardiner was still a top-two defencemen on one of the NHL’s top regular season teams. He finished eighth among all blueliners with 48 assists, set a career high with 52 points and led the Maple Leafs in ice time during the regular season and playoffs at around 22 minutes a night. This is a good time to point out that maybe, just maybe, part of the problem is that the Leafs rely on Gardiner that much to begin with. Also fair to point out: What choice do they have? It’s not like the Leafs have any better options internally, and finding somebody to fill that role externally won’t be easy or cheap.

Fortunately for the detractors, the soon to be 28-year-old could very well price his way out of Toronto. Given the demand for minute-munching, puck-moving defencemen, Gardiner is due to earn a nice raise on his $4.05M annual salary when he hits the open market next July. And if he’s not good enough to be a top-two defenceman on a Cup-contending team, can the Maple Leafs really afford to pay him like one over the long term, especially with big contracts due up for their trio of young forwards?

If the Leafs decide to trade Gardiner, they still need somebody to fill his role and it’s doubtful they’d get that in return unless part of a bigger deal. Do they attempt to replace him with a number of short-term acquisitions and bank on young players like Travis Dermott and Timothy Liljegren to fill that void in a few years time? Or do they make some small tweaks to the blueline and let him play out his final year like JVR, hoping he can be part of the solution and see how things shake out in free agency? That seems like the likely course given the team’s lack of depth on defence and a thin free agent market, but it won’t be a good look if Gardiner struggles again in the playoffs and the team loses him for nothing.

That’s what makes this such a difficult situation for the Leafs, who will be expected to take another step forward next season. They need more good defencemen, not less, and despite his nightmare of a performance in Game 7, Gardiner still brings a lot to the table.

Even if it’s lost among all the noise and ugly turnovers.