Leafs GM Dave Nonis on moving Jake Gardiner to forward: 'There's been some talk of it'

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis conducted an interview with the Toronto Sun on Wednesday, and among the topics discussed was the usage of defenseman Jake Gardiner, who may literally be moving forward with the club.

Q: Jake Gardiner, any thought of making him a forward, given you have Morgan Rielly back end?

Nonis: He was a forward, he started as a forward. He played more of his formative years as a forward. There’s been some talk of it, but I think he gives us an element at the back end that would be hard to replace. He can skate the puck out, pretty good on the power play. So I think right now, we would keep him back there, but ...

Gardiner made the switch to defense early on during his high-school career, and while he played on the blue line through university and coming up in the Maple Leafs' organization, his skill-set is certainly conducive to being a forward.

Nonis, however, doesn't appear to be fully committed to the move, but it may be something Randy Carlyle experiments with in training camp, should Gardiner remain with the club among the ever-present trade rumors that seem to surround him.

In 167 NHL games, Gardiner - age 23 - recorded 17 goals and 48 assists with 227 shots on goal.