Very mysterious statement from Babcock about the future of one of his top players.

The Toronto Maple Leafs organization is off to a solid start in the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season and it looks like they have a bright future ahead of them. That being said though there are also clearly some bumps in the road ahead for the Maple Leafs, something that has been highlighted by the ongoing contract dispute between the Maple Leafs and talented young forward William Nylander.

The Leafs, and more specifically general manager Kyle Dubas, have been locked in a stalemate with Nylander and his management when it comes to negotiating a new contract and it's been due entirely to one factor, the NHL's salary cap. Nylander wants max value on his next deal while the Leafs are hoping for a hometown discount and for the Leafs it comes down to how much money they will have in the future to sign players like Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner when it comes time for their new deals. That being said though a lot of fans often seem to forget that the Leafs not only have their restricted free agents, or soon to be RFAs, to worry about/

Also set to be free agents at the end of this season are Par Lindholm, Tyler Ennis, Martin MarincinRon Hainsey and Jake Gardiner and you can bet that the Leafs would love to find a way to keep a player like Gardiner around for the foreseeable future. The expectation however has been that Gardiner will walk away as a free agent come next summer simply due to the fact that the Leafs will not have the salary cap space available to accommodate him on a new deal, a deal that would likely see him earn more than the $4 million per season he's currently pocketing. 

That being said though there has been almost no talk around Gardiner in the media and there has been no talk surrounding whether or not his future with the Maple Leafs is set in stone one way or another, largely due to the focus on the Leafs big three forwards. That's not to say that the Leafs themselves aren't paying attention, because of course they are, but there have been very few questions directed at Leafs' management regarding the future of the talented defenseman. 

On Saturday though Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock was asked about the possible uncertainty that awaited Gardiner as he heads towards being an unrestricted free agent next summer, and the Leafs head coach gave an extremely cryptic answer to the question.

"I don’t know if it’s as uncertain as you think it is," said Babcock.

That is a very mysterious answer but one that indicates that the Leafs head coach already believes he knows where things are headed for Gardiner as far as his future in Toronto is concerned. The problem of course is that we do not know if Babcock is implying that he is certain Gardiner will be back or if he's implying that he is certain Gardiner will no longer be a Leaf come next season. 

Which way do you read it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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