Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly had the usual squabbles roommates share during the two years they lived together.



Card games often ended in arguments. So did video games. Gardiner and Rielly would even hit the ball around with paddle rackets at their place, like at the beach. Those competitions were pretty fierce, too.



Rielly describes Gardiner as “the most easygoing guy I’ve ever been around.” His former roommate liked to press his buttons, nonetheless. For instance, Gardiner might insist a TV show or movie Rielly liked wasn’t all that interesting.



“It was me getting mad and him not caring and just continuing on the course he was on,” Rielly says with a laugh now. “I’m not quite as laid-back as he is so when I got mad he would see that and just be persistent on it.”



While Gardiner, from Minnetonka, MN., might be easygoing at home, the microscope on him in his early years with the Maple Leafs...