Finally some positive signs from injured Maple Leafs Jake Gardiner.

There has been an interesting shift in the tone of the Toronto Maple Leafs fan base since the absence of veteran defenseman Jake Gardiner due to injury, one that bodes well for the popularity of the talented blue liner.

Gardiner has been something of a minor lightning wand during his time as a Maple Leaf, often finding himself the target of significant criticism from a portion of the Maple Leafs fan base. To be fair to the fans here it is not like their criticisms have been entirely unwarranted, Gardiner is a strong puck moving defenseman to be sure but also one that has shown that he can be a defensive liability with costly and often ill timed mistakes.

In spite of his flaws however Gardiner has been a strong performer for the Maple Leafs with this season being no exception in spite of his dip in point production. This season Gardiner has propduced 2 goals and 27 assists for 29 total points and a plus minus raiting of +17 over the 60 games for which he has been healthy. That has Gardiner producing at .48 points per game a noticeable drop from his .63 points per game last season, however over a full 82 game season in 2017 - 2018 Gardiner finish with a plus minus rating of just +7, indicating that he has likely tightened up many of those aforementioned mistakes.

Add to that fact the reality that without Gardiner in the line up the Maple Leafs have struggled badly, all but throwing away any chance they had at securing home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. When you consider that they are set to face off against a Boston Bruins team that has given them nightmares in the first round in recent memory, that does not bode well for the Maple Leafs. On top of that the biggest issues for the Leafs over the current slump have been their goaltending and, you guessed it, the play of their blue line. Even Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk felt comfortable taking a shot at that blue line earlier this week during a heavily publicized radio interview.

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and Gardiner's absence and the defensive struggles that have followed has certainly in a lot of fans excited for his eventual return. Unfortunately for those fans the news as of late has been all bad for Gardiner with the veteran defenseman kept out of the line up for longer than had originally been projected, and progress has been almost non existent.

Thankfully on Sunday the Maple Leafs received some good news when cameras caught Jake Gardiner out on the ice, skating after his teammates had already concluded their practice. This by no means that he is anywhere close to being ready for that return, but it's one of the biggest signs of progress that Gardiner has made in some time now.

Thanks to a video courtesy of Maple Leafs reporter Jonas Siegel you can take a look for yourselves at how Gardiner was moving out on the ice today.

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