Reimer, Bernier battling to be clear No. 1
With Babcock in charge, team likely to have one goalie get lion’s share of starts
HALIFAX—“Who do you want? Reimer or Bernier?”
Geoffrey Burns, a 23-year-old rabid Leaf fan, yelled that out to about 100 fans waiting for autographs Friday at the BMO Centre, a multiplex rink in suburban Bedford, N.S., where Maple Leafs training camp is being held this weekend.
The Leafs were changing in a dressing room below and Burns polled his fellow fans asking for a show of hands for which goalie they wanted to see.
If the straw poll — or the cheers he got when he finally emerged in street clothes after the first Leafs practice — are any indication, then James Reimer is the people’s choice. But the people don’t get to choose. Coach Mike Babcock chooses. And he’s on record as saying he wants a clear No. 1 goalie to emerge “because I’ll sleep better at night and I won’t have to make that decision every day when I come to the rink,” said Babcock.
“I don’t have to listen to you (media ask) everyday ‘Who’s starting tomorrow?’ I think we should all know who’s starting tomorrow because one guy is better.”
Since Jonathan Bernier arrived in the summer of 2013, he has played113 games to Reimer’s 71. He’s has clearly been the favoured goalie, albeit not by that a wide margin (about a 3-to-2 games-played ratio.)
Bernier’s stats are better, too with a 2.78 goals-against average to Reimer’s 3.23, and a .918 save percentage to Reimer’s .909.
In Detroit over the past five years when Jimmy Howard emerged as the Wings’ No. 1 goalie, Howard played 329 games. The other six backups in that span combined to play 162, a games-played ratio of nearly 2-to-1).
“My second year at Red Deer College, I went with two goalies all year long,” said Babcock. “In Game1of the playoffs, I went with one. In Game 2, I went with the other. Then we were out of the playoffs. I haven’t done that since.
“I like one guy to know who’s the guy . . . Someone has got to grab it.”
The smart money is on Bernier. He has a two-year deal signed for $4.15 million a year, and would appear to be just as favoured by the new regime as he was by the old one that brought him in.
“That’s been our mindset, either me or James,” said Bernier. “You can’t focus on how many games you play. You can only focus on your one job, which is every time you get the call, you have to be the best player you can be.”
Bernier isn’t taking anything for granted.
“Everyone is starting from scratch. That’s what Mike said,” said Bernier. “We have to impress everyone in the stands right now.”
Reimer is facing unrestricted free agent status, in the last year of a deal that pays him $2.3 million.
“What you want is opportunity to show what you can do,” said Reimer. “Hopefully, you can seize it and make the most of it. There’s two goalies and one net. Bernier competes hard and I’m going to compete my butt off.
“You want to be the No. 1 guys, the guy your team can count on every night. It’s always been my goal.”
Four goalies will see action in the pre-season: Bernier, Reimer, Antoine Bibeau and Garret Sparks.
Bernier and Reimer will each play the split-squad games against the Senators on Monday (one game is in Ottawa; at the same time another is in Toronto). Bibeau and Sparks will split the game Tuesday in Montreal.
The Halifax venture seems to have been quite a success, with the rink filled with Leaf fans — eager to see practices and scrimmages — from the moment the doors opened at 9 a.m.
From a player’s perspective, the trip is about team-building, about being together on the road, without the distractions of home life.
There are an awful lot of new faces among the 69 players in camp. And Reimer found the positive in that, in line with Babcock’s statement that everyone is starting with a clean slate.
“We have all new people here, and who knows how many new teammates we’re going to have,” said Reimer.
“New coaches, managers. It almost feels like you’ve been traded, except you get to stay in the same house and have the same fan-base and go to the same rink.
“It makes for a little more excitement.”