Bernier is the goalie who would not be No. 1
Upon further review…
It was back in training camp when gilt-edged coach Mike Babcock made his first pronouncement on the Maple Leaf goaltending duality.
There would be one No. 1. “Because I’ll sleep better at night and won’t have to make that decision every day when I come to the rink.
“And I don’t have to listen to you (media) ask every day: ‘Who’s starting tomorrow?’ I think we should all know who’s starting tomorrow because one guy is better.’’ Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Which brings us to today: James Reimer between the pipes Tuesday evening against the Avalanche. And that seems fitting for a guy who just garnered accolades as one of the NHL’s three stars of the week.
So somebody was paying attention whilst Optimist Reim — Opie as he’s affectionately known in this corner — racked up three wins in four games over the best stretch of hockey his club has put forth this season.
Has Toronto’s netminding dilemma been resolved? As if. Put it this way: If the team dangled either of their masked men on the trade market at this moment, who would attract more interest?
Yet there has been chronic disinterest, around the organization, in anointing Reimer as the unequivocal Leaf starter.
One guy, in fact, has been better: a 1.62 goals against average and .952 save percentage for Reimer in the three wins he pulled down against Dallas, Nashville and Vancouver.
So naturally Babcock reverted to Bernier in New York on Sunday for the back end of consecutive night matches.
On a team in transition — again — perhaps goaltending isn’t the primary issue. Whoever is in the nets for Toronto will likely not change the team’s presumed destiny in a start-over season. The Babcock regime is still in its infancy, players just beginning to find a comfort zone within the coach’s cluster-the-puck system, essentially defined as no Leaf will ever skate alone in the puck’s vicinity; there’s always supposed to be backup.
Yet the main fail-safe system in hockey is the goalie — the last line of defence. And that bulwark simply hasn’t been Bernier, for all the forbearance Babcock has shown.
We’ve seen Bernier for two-plus years now and this is indisputably his M.O. — a wandering focus, fragility between the ears, and godawful goals surrendered, whether as the result of poor positioning or rebound chaos or an inability to slam his five-hole closed, but whatever the malignancy the result has too often been confidence-crushing for his teammates. And frankly they’ve got enough on their to-do agenda — like enlivening the offence — without worrying that their stopper will let an oopsie between the legs from just inside the red line.
A forensic audit of Bernier’s all-gaffe gallery provides troubling evidence that his inconstancies are more defining characteristic than anomaly. To wit:
The Wake-Up Dammit: Beaten by peewee softies to start a game, strongly indicative of mental unpreparedness. Exhibit A — First shot in the first game of the season, 3-1 loss to Montreal in the home opener, out of position and awkwardly bumbled when Max Pacioretty banked the puck off Bernier’s shoulder and over the goal line.
The Wake-up Déjà Vu: First shot, second game of the season, in Detroit for Babcock’s homecoming, and first shot of the second period — three goals on nine shots, chasing him out of the nets 20 seconds into the middle frame.
The Sad-Sack Sag: Third start of the season, in Pittsburgh — first-shot save, second-shot save, then two goals 39 seconds apart; the second, by Olli Maatta on a broken play admittedly, but resulting, again, from lousy positioning.
Did we mention that, since joining the Leafs in 2013-14, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Bernier has allowed a league-high 13 goals in the first two minutes of games? And that’s exclusive of the aforementioned (see above) because they occurred outside the two-minute margin.
The Five-and-Dime Hole: Fifth start, a 5-3 loss to Montreal, backbreaker short-hander by Pacioretty, shot right along the ice and through the wickets.
The Rebound Re-gifting: Seventh start, 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh — four goals on 32 shots — and worst of the lot was the sloppy rebound on a wide-shot pounced on by Patric Hornqvist, met with sarcastic cheers from the crowd at the Air Canada Centre.
The Thousand Yard Stare: Well, more like 90 feet, on Sunday at Madison Square, but Bernier saw the bouncing wrister from Derek Stepan all the way. Everybody saw it roll leisurely all the way through Bernier’s . . . you know.
There you have it: The anatomy of an 0-7-1 record, 3.17 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage.
Individually, none of these were goals that should have got the better of a big-league goaltender. Collectively, they beg the question: Why was the shambolic Bernier resigned to a two-year $8.3 million deal?
It’s been a long time, not since Ed Belfour days, since Toronto has enjoyed solidity in the crease. Recall all the purported saviours — and scruffs — who have come down the pipes since: Andrew Raycroft, Vesa Toskala, Jonas Gustavsson, Mikael Tellqvist, Justin Pogge, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, etc. Garret Sparks, picked 190th overall in the 2011 draft, was recently named AHL player of the week and fellow Marlie Antoine Bibeau was summoned for back-up duty while Bernier recovered from his lower body injury. But the Leafs have a crummy record developing their own goalies — except for the rare exception, such as Tuukka Rask, who got away. Can’t grow ’em, can’t trade for ’em worth squat.
And there’s the unprepossessing James Reimer, perhaps never to be forgiven for that epic Game 7 implosion in Boston.
The Un-Bernier, which might just be the best thing Toronto has going for itself right now, if on sufferance.
Hey coach: Who’s in net?