The Florida Panthers inked James Reimer to a five-year, 17 million dollar deal during free agent frenzy last offseason. With the hopes he could serve as a solid “1B” to the veteran Roberto Luongo, who was coming off of a small hip procedure.
Lu and Reimer both started 39 games in the 2016-17 campaign, splitting the workload throughout Luongo’s injury struggles. A career high for Reimer and in the process he respectively earned the title of “1A”.
The Panthers can keep holding on to the “1A, 1B” theory, but it’s hard to avoid that Luongo is aging and did not look the same this past season. Whether this was due to injury or being rushed back, it leaves some question marks in-goal for the Cats.
Who will be the number one goaltender?
This will be interesting as the season approaches as 2016-17 is such a bad sample size to work with. Any coach would slightly cringe when seeing both goaltenders had some lengthy losing streaks.
A case can be made for Reimer being ready to take over the workload in order for the Cats to get the best out of Luongo. There’s also a case to be made for Lu if he comes to camp healthy, he’s a gold medalist and a brick wall when on the top of his game.
Either way, I can imagine whoever the new coach is will give both guys a long look in training camp and the preseason. With both options being reasonable starters, it could come down to factors like experience or health.
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Does Reimer have what it takes to carry the workload?
With 39 starts being a career high for the tendy, maybe 45+ is something that’s not to distant. Through the inconsistencies, with Reimer in net he still gave the Panthers a good chance to win on a nightly basis.
Reims made 19 quality starts and 4 really bad starts in 2016-17, yes this is a stat developed by Rob Vollman of the Hockey Abstract. He also posted a .920 Save percentage and 2.53 Goals against average along with 3 shutouts.
Fact of the matter is, he’ll be able to carry the workload if called upon. He’s just gonna need some more help than he got last season, from everyone, the coach, defense and offense.
Is Roberto Luongo running out of gas?
It seems we haven’t seen the same Bobby Lu since that heartbreaking wrap around goal in-game 6. So what could it be, the defense, his hip or is it just Father Time?
It could actually be a combination of things, he worked very hard last off-season to get into tip-top shape after undergoing minor hip surgery. He’d go on a personal 5 game losing streak early in the season and turn around to pick up wins in his next 5 starts following that.
In comparison, Luongo had 21 quality starts and 1 really bad start so is the vet really running out of gas? Or did he fall victim to the same injury bug as struggling forward Nick Bjugstad.