And another one bites the dust. Today, it was announced that Jake Gardiner had agreed to a four-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes.
The #Canes have signed Jake Gardiner to a four-year contract
More Info » https://t.co/sp8U5mzQvu pic.twitter.com/PILPBvhKgi
— Carolina Hurricanes (@CanesNHL) September 6, 2019
And while it was the end of an era for Gardiner personally and professionally, leaving the team where he’d spent the whole of his NHL career after being drafted by Anaheim, it was also the unofficial end to a forgettable era in Leafland. With Gardiner moving on and the trade of Nazem Kadri earlier this summer, there are no remaining Leafs left from the 2013 first round Game 7 loss in Boston, where the Leafs inexplicably blew a 4-1 third period lead and lost in overtime. You can search out the video yourself if you’re that much of a masochist.
Kessel? Gone. Phaneuf? Gone. Komarov? Gone. Reimer? Gone. Matt Frattin? Still didn’t score that breakaway.
Morgan Rielly? Yet to debut with the team. David Clarkson? Signed a few months later.
So there’s not much to really unpack here, but it is finally a complete overhaul from the beginning of this weird “lose to Boston in Boston in 7 games” curse. Maybe Toronto finally gets over the hump this season, albeit with a completely different cast of characters. Maybe they don’t.
But whatever the future holds for that rivalry and this Leafs franchise, you can bet you’ll still find a clip of Bergeron scoring in the replies of a tweet now and again, though.