Florida Panthers: James Reimer Has Found Himself A Home

When the Florida Panthers signed James Reimer last Summer, they were glad to bring in someone who was more of a “1B” to Roberto Luongo, rather than a back up. What they got out of him exceeded expectations, he started in a career high 39 games logging a .920 SV pct, 2.53 GAA, and 3 shutouts on the season.

There were lots of ups and downs for Reimer in Toronto. After spending his whole NHL career in the Leafs system and six seasons with the team, he was traded to San Jose at the deadline in the 2015-16 season.

Being in such a big market like the Maple Leafs, has a lot of scrutiny and heat that came to the goaltender in his time with Toronto. In comparison to Florida he said “It’s nice to have that support behind you and [know] you can go out there and try and do your thing.”

Once James got settled early in the season it looked as though the “1A, 1B” goaltender situation would work out well for the Cats. However, Roberto Luongo would struggle finding his form and with injury for a good amount of the season. In turn, this theoretically made Reimer the “1A”.

He would have some great performances throughout the season, some not so great. There were definitely many times where he kept the team in the game. Unfortunately, between the struggles to score and defensive breakdowns, the Panthers had a hard time pulling out those close games.

In mid January he’d have to take a couple of games off while on a west coast road trip to go attend to his first child being born. He would return on January 26th against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Cats would go on to win the game 2-1 in OT thanks to Reimer’s 31 saves and of course Jonathan Marchessault’s game winning goal.

Reims would miss some time in late March-Early April after getting run into by Brian Boyle in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He would return just in time to make the last three starts of the season and earn back to back shut outs to wrap up the Florida Panthers 2016-17 campaign.

All in all Reimer was one of the few bright spots in a dim season for the Cats. With the hopes that Lu can stay healthy, the Panthers will be able to send a tendy out every night who gives them a chance to win next season.