Former Leaf heads back to LTIR, may be nearing the end of his playing career

With team medicals expected to take place in the middle of this week, the Carolina Hurricanes are preparing to announce that defensemen Jake Gardiner will miss training camp and be placed on LTIR. Gardiner missed the entire 2021-22 season due to a hip injury.

This news comes as a bit of a surprise because Gardiner was recently cleared to play during this upcoming season. I suppose we now know why the Hurricanes brought in Calvin de Haan on a PTO.

Gardiner has only played two seasons in Carolina, 2019-20 and 2020-21. He has laced up the skates in 94 games with the Canes, only managing to accumulate 32 points over that span.

Gardiner spent seven seasons with Maple Leafs before signing with Carolina in July of 2019. With Gardiner heading back to LITR, all signs point to his NHL playing career ending sooner rather than later, which would be a shame for the 32-year-old.

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