Lamoriello said at the trade deadline that he " liked " his defence and didn't make any move to improve it except by getting Pleckanic. I didn't buy that he really felt the defence was good enough to compete in the playoffs, rather, it was a case where he didn't want to pay the price for what he'd consider an upgrade.
Gardiner will be unrestricted at the end of next season and even with his shortcomings he'll probably garner a lot of interests from teams looking for "puck moving" d men. It's so painfully obvious that this defence was just not good enough
with Gardiner being an integral part of it and I just don't see the Leafs will want to commit another 5-6 years for 6-7 miles per in resigning him. I'd say there's a good chance that he'll be packaged for some major deal(s).
Demott looks to be ready to assume a bigger role and I have no doubt that he'll be an upgrade in replacing Gardiner. Hall did well the short time he was up but Babcock didn't seem to have much confidence in him. Liljegren may not be ready for another year and Borgman will get another crack before he does.
There are also uncertainties in management. Will Lamriello be back as GM or in some advisory capacity with either Dubas or Hunter promoted as GM ? Will they risk to lose either one of Dubas or Hunter if the other is promoted ? With the upcoming contract extensions of Matthews, Marner and Nylander, and the necessity of making improvements on defence, I'd be more confident in Lou making the decisions. He probably feels that his project to create a perennial contender in this team is incomplete and may want to come back for another year.