To be honest, Jake Gardiner isn’t really the complaining type. He’s always been quiet and unassuming, just a kid out of Minnetonka who is grateful to be in the NHL and have the life he does.



But he’ll tell you the story behind his difficult 2018-19 season, if you ask.



He’ll talk about the debilitating back injury – a herniated disc – which robbed him of 20 to 30 percent of the strength in one leg most of last season. He’ll talk about trying to play through that, on a Leafs team desperate for his minutes on defence, and the struggle it was to even participate in practices and games.



He’ll talk about getting booed by the home crowd every time he touched the puck on some nights. And about coming back, despite not having a contract lined up, putting his future on the line to try and write a redemption story in the playoffs.



Only to be at the centre of a crushing Game 7 loss in Boston, for the third time in...