When I suggested over the summer that James Reimer may be the perfect backup for the Carolina Hurricanes, many disagreed. He surely isn’t the most consistent goalie from year to year, so criticism was fair.

But now getting close to halfway through the season, Reimer has been able to pick up the slack, as Petr Mrazek has continued his own inconsistencies. As the Hurricanes push for home ice in the playoffs, I ask: could James Reimer take over the responsibilities as starter in Carolina?

Reimer has now started half of the team's last 12 games and has a 6-1 record in his last seven starts, with some coming against tough opponents. In those seven games, he also hasn’t allowed more than three goals in any and has recorded at least a .914 save percentage in each game. He’s also totalled two shutouts and five games above a .940 save percentage of those seven. Here’s a breakdown of his stats from the season:

Starts with a SV% at .930 or above: 7 (54%)

Starts with a SV% at .910 or above: 10 (77%)
Starts with a SV% below .890: 3 (23%)

Put it all together and you get a .927 SV% in 13 starts.

Now contrast this with Petr Mrazek. While he’s been good in his last four starts, you never know what kind of game you’re going to get. Here are his season stats:

Starts with a SV% at .930 or above: 7 (32%)

Starts with a SV% at .910 or above: 10 (45%)
Starts with a SV% between .890 and .910: 4 (18%)
Starts with a SV% below .890: 8 (36%)

Reimer is certainly averaging more quality starts, recording a .910 SV% or higher in 10 of his 13 starts, while Mrazek has been able to do it in just 10 of his 22 starts. Reimer has also only recorded three starts below an .890 SV%, while eight of Mrazek’s games have been statistically poor.

As the season wears on, I think we’ll continue to see the goalies split time. But if Reimer continues to be fairly consistent from game to game and Mrazek doesn’t stay on pace with how he’s played in his last few, we could see Reimer start to get into more games and take over the starting job at some point.


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OTHER HURRICANES ARTICLES FROM DECEMBER

Hurricanes are on a roll

Hurricanes trade Wood, acquire Kaski from Red Wings

Early season storylines

Carolina's schedule is about to get much more difficult

Game Recap (Game 27): CAR @ TBL

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