“…it's been kinda a long summer sittin' around kinda waiting' to see where we are going to end up, but obviously very excited to be in Carolina.” Jake Gardiner tells TSN's OverDrive hosts.
Friday, the Carolina Hurricanes signed defenseman Jake Gardiner to a four-year $16.2 million contract with an AAV of $4.05 million. Gardiner played his last 8 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In February of this past season he suffered a back injury and was out for 18-games.
When asked why he thought he was finally being signed just 10 days before camp he responded, “It could have been the fact that I got hurt last year. I'm sure that had something to do with it. That probably scared some teams off. Carolina, they wanted me and it just ended up being the right decision.”
“I'm kinda looking forward to just going to a place and not having to worry about that stuff,” Gardiner comments, in regard to not being able to walk around Toronto or going to dinner without someone recognizing him.
In his last season with the Leafs, Gardiner played 62 regular season games in which he recorded 30 points. In the seven games Toronto played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs he had two assists.
