Gardner was born in
Toronto, Ontario. During the 1976–77 season, Gardner played for the
Seneca Nationals alongside future all-time NHL points leader
Wayne Gretzky. Gardner won the team's Most Valuable Player award that season, scoring 103 points as a defensemen. Gardner then went on to play for the
OHL's
Peterborough Petes, where in 1979, the Petes would go on to win the
Memorial Cup. Gardner was drafted 49th Overall by the Chicago Blackhawks, just one pick after
Mark Messier. Gardner started his
National Hockey League career with the
Chicago Blackhawks in 1981. He would spend his entire career with the Blackhawks except for 26 games he played for the
Hartford Whalers in 1986. During his career, he scored 73 goals, 115 assists, 188 points in 380 games. Gardner's career as a broadcaster began in 1989 as a studio analyst on
SportsChannel Chicago's Blackhawks broadcasts. In 1996, he replaced
Daryl Reaugh on
Hartford Whalers television broadcasts when Reaugh left to become radio analyst for the
Dallas Stars when it looked as if the Whalers might leave Hartford He followed the Whalers to
North Carolina when the team relocated the next season, but left after one season return to the
Chicago Blackhawks as the team's color analyst on television and radio. [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ADHB&p_theme=adhb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED028DFE61B31D7&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Gardner served as color commentator for the Blackhawks alongside
Pat Foley until 2002. He has been the color analyst for the
Chicago Wolves since 2002. ==Career statistics==