Leafs’ Reimer: Nice guy in a not-so-nice spot
James Reimer is a gentle soul, that much we know. His smile is positively beatific, and almost reflexive. He has been known to go out of his way to apologize to people about whom he has said lessthan-kind words about in private, to his friends. Who does that? Nobody does that.
But he is competitive, and there is a deep pride in there. In Tuesday night’s loss in Detroit, the 26-year-old Reimer allowed three goals. They came on a clean breakaway, a partial breakaway, and the closest thing to a breakaway — a clean 2-on-1 with under four minutes left, finished by a guy who scored his 441st career goal. Afterwards, when asked how his goaltender performed, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle eschewed his usual policy of not commenting on individual players and said, “I thought he was OK, just OK.”
A few little words, but they meant something. When told what Carlyle said, Reimer said, “He said just OK? I thought I was good.” Some people who were there detected deep frustration, which from the God-fearing Reimer is as rare as profanity. Reimer’s agent Ray Petkau, who knows his client, tweeted: “As is customary in Toronto, when your team plays poor defensively game after game you blame your goalie.”
Petkau released a statement Wednesday saying he tweeted without having heard Carlyle’s comments, which, if anything, makes you wonder how scathing the tweet would have been if he had. He acknowledged “issues” that will need to be dealt with in the offseason; TSN’s Darren Dreger said he believes Reimer, who will be a restricted free agent, will respectfully request a trade.
Of all the aspects of this team that should escape Carlyle’s criticism, goaltending should rank ahead of just about anything. The Leafs entered Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to Tampa Bay fourth in the league in save percentage at even strength, behind only Boston, the Kings, and Minnesota. At even strength, among the 30 goaltenders with at least 30 appearances before Wednesday, Jonathan Bernier was third, at .935, behind only Boston’s Tuukka Rask and Tampa’s Ben Bishop. Reimer, who made his 30th appearance against the Lightning, was at .925, 13th on the list, a notch behind Phoenix’s Mike Smith, and a notch ahead of Henrik Lundqvist.
You wouldn’t take Reimer ahead of Lundqvist, of course. Reimer’s style can be a little too frenetic for the faint of heart. He’s not as good as Bernier. There’s no shame in that. Wednesday, he let a subdued point shot from Radko Gudas slip clean past him, 59 seconds in — a seeing-eye goal, Carlyle called it. On the next three, Steven Stamkos was left alone on a side-to-side pass on a power play, was left alone five feet out in the slot as Dion Phaneuf watched, and was left alone on a rush that started when Joffrey Lupul utterly failed to clear the zone on a penalty kill, given time and space.
Reimer had no chance on the fifth goal, either. When asked what was happening to the team defensively, Lupul said, “We’re getting exposed.”
Oh, and it was the second half of a back-to-back. In the hyper-sensitive NHL world, what Carlyle said counted as such, and the coach had to know it.
“I think there was a lot of unnecessary hype (over the last 24 hours), but ... it definitely wasn’t the performance I was looking for,” said Reimer, who made 25 saves.
Without capital-G great goaltending, this Toronto team would be a wreck.
And, of course, if Bernier has been this team’s thorough-bred, Reimer has been treated like its mule. He never really had a chance at the starter’s job. He has been yanked five times in his first 27 starts this season, and chafed about it when it happened Dec. 21 against Detroit; Bernier was not pulled until he was five goals into a 7-1 loss to the Rangers Jan. 4; he has been pulled for non-injury reasons once since. Reimer was the starter last season, but the organization has clearly lost faith. Reimer has dealt with it gracefully.
“Obviously, that role’s a tough role to play,” said Leafs defenceman Cody Franson. “But Reims has done a great job with it. He’s been a total pro with it. He hasn’t done anything to be a distraction ... He’s come in and played well when he’s been asked to. He’s given us a chance to win games … and that’s all you can really ask for.”
Perhaps Carlyle has just been so thoroughly spoiled by his goaltenders, and especially the one who will receive Vezina votes, that he is disappointed not to have been thoroughly saved yet again as the NHL standings narrow.