Toronto Maple Leafs

James Reimer Wins His AHL Debut

This week Leafs fans have looked on incredulously as Vesa Toskala has shrugged off his poor performances, repeatedly displaying a Raycroftian “bad things happen to great goalies like myself” attitude.

Tie in the fact that Justin Pogge played decently in his NHL debut and Curtis Joseph continues to struggle as a back up net-minder, and you have the makings of what is being termed a “3-headed monster” of a goal-tending situation.

Amidst this backdrop, slowly creeps in the Leafs OTHER goal-tending prospect. No I don’t mean the Marlies backup, and former first round, 29th overall NHL draft pick, Adam Munro - though his 12-28-0 record with HC Fribourg-Gotteron of the Swiss Elite League two seasons ago, does make one wonder why they haven’t let him between the pipes in the bigs recently. I’m referring to James Reimer, who was taken at the slightly less lofty spot of the 99th overall pick in the 4th round of the 2006 entry draft… one year after JFJ selected that Rask kid the Leafs traded away to get the aforementioned Andrew Raycroft.

Reimer played three seasons for the WHL Red-Deer Rebels, the last of which was marred by injury. Despite that fact, his numbers improved in each of his seasons, with his save percentage rising from .910 as a rookie, to .912 in year two, to .916 in his curtailed final season as a junior. Unfortunately for Reimer the wins did not follow his save percentage improvements as the Rebels were basically bottom feeders during his 3 year tenure, only making the playoffs in his second season.

Reimer did have the luxury of playing under current New Jersey Devils head coach Brent Sutter for his first two seasons, so his experience with the expectations of an NHL head coach should be relatively positive. He also played alongside current NHL’ers Kris Versteeg, Martin Hanzal, and Brett and Brandon Sutter.

Standing large in his net (similarly to Pogge) Reimer is 6′2″ and 208 lbs. He takes up a lot of space, and he tends to challenge shooters. While not alarmingly agile, he is fairly sound positionally and handles the puck reasonably well. Scouts have projected him as a potential NHL backup, but I wonder if they’re working from a limited sampling of his potential.

One of the things Reimer suffered from in Junior is a lack of top level playing time to maximize his opportunity to develop. Consider that at the Major Junior level, he only played in 131 games, mainly due to his injury in his final season. In contrast, Justin Pogge played in 183 games, many of which were at the highest level of competition - 1 at the U18 World Championships, 7 at the U20 World Championships. That’s almost another entire season of goal tending at a high level for Pogge to improve his skills.

Consider that when Pogge went from playing for the Prince George Cougars to the Calgary Hitmen, his save percentage went from .891 to .917 within the same season. The Cougars finished last in the B.C. division of the WHL during both the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons (Pogge’s two seasons in Prince George). Calgary finished 3rd in the Central division of the WHL during Pogge’s first half season with the club, and in his final year they finished 2nd. His save percentage on that club was .926.

Reimer was playing on a basement team for all three of his seasons in Red Deer. He made the playoffs in his second season, and had a save percentage over .900 during all three of his years in the WHL, improving to a .916 in his final season. In his one full season, 2006-07, his second in the WHL, Reimer played in 60 games for Red Deer. He stopped 1529 shots, allowing 148 goals against, for a .912 save percentage and 2.66 GAA. In his second season in junior, 2004-05, Pogge stopped 1185 shots and allowed 122 goals, for a .906 SV% and a 2.50 GAA. Suffice it to say, Pogge played on superior clubs in Calgary to those Reimer backstopped in Red Deer. Fewer shots against tends to help a goalie out in the GAA category, but a superior SV% impresses me a bit more.

Considering that Reimer is only 20 years old, and managed a 5-3-1 record for the Reading Royals of the ECHL (the Leafs new ECHL affiliate this season), his 3.34 GAA should be tempered by his .905 SV% as a pro rookie. His AHL debut has gone similarly well, as he was named the first star of the game, and helped cushion the Leafs to a 3-2 shoot out win over the Manitoba Moose (currently tied for 2nd overall in the AHL). He stopped the first 14 shots he faced (something Vesa Toskala could learn from) and played well despite having to deal with a 30 minute delay to accommodate the replacement of a broken pane of glass. He was called upon to make a few impressive stops during a 5 on 3 penalty kill in the second period, and he also shined in the shoot out, stopping 4 of 5 shooters in the glorified skills competition. That gives him a .926 SV% in the AHL, and a 1.85 GAA.

Not too shabby for another recent call up in the Leafs System.