Hurricanes defenceman cleared to play after missing an entire year
Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Jake Gardiner has been fully cleared to return following surgery on his back and hips, according to Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell.
Gardiner was ruled out for the entirety of the 2021-22 season as a result of the surgeries and was placed on long-term injured reserve. The 31-year-old only played in 26 games in the previous campaign due to injuries and recorded eight assists.
Signed to a four-year, $16.2MM contract in 2019, the smooth-skating defenseman will carry a cap hit of $4.05MM next season for the Hurricanes. If he's completely healthy, that complicates things quite a bit, as for the last year they have been operating with him on long-term injured reserve. It's up in the air what kind of player Gardiner will be if he does return, especially given how those back problems had gone back several years to his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The problem now is that the Hurricanes already have three other defensemen making at least $4MM, and Tony DeAngelo waiting for a raise through arbitration. They also have several top free agents like Vincent Trocheck, and Nino Niederreiter to potentially re-sign along with RFA Martin Necas. Gardiner also does hold a seven-team no-trade clause, which could make a deal even more difficult if the team tried to go down that route.
Technically, if he is now fully healthy, the Hurricanes could buy Gardiner out this summer. That would result in a cap hit of $1.083MM in 2022-23 and $1.483MM in 2023-24, though that may be more palatable than rolling the dice with his post-surgery performance.
If he's completely healthy and ready to resume his career, the Hurricanes will have to make some tough decisions on how to deal with his cap hit as they prepare for next season
| POLL | ||
Will Jake Gardiner play for the Hurricanes next season? | ||
| Yes, he�s healthy and ready to go | 58 | 41.4 % |
| No, already have too much $$ tied into their D | 82 | 58.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
