This piece will be another in my series of player profiles, where I’ll give some thoughts on the performance of a member of the Carolina Hurricanes this season. This article will focus on James Reimer.
Coming off a poor season in Florida, James Reimer’s job with the Hurricanes was to be ready in the case that Petr Mrazek stumbled. He did and Reimer was up to the challenge.
Before the season, I had the unpopular opinion that James Reimer was actually a great fit to backup Mrazek. Now, I’m here to gloat about it (while I can, as we all know Reimer is inconsistent from year to year and there’s a great chance he doesn’t replicate his performance next season).
Mrazek was unable to establish himself as a starter and Reimer ended up playing quite a bit, starting 24 games, compared to Mrazek’s 38 starts. At one point, Reimer was just about splitting time with Mrazek. Reimer finished the year with a 14-6-2 record with a .914 save percentage and may have ended up taking over the starter’s job, had he not been injured and well, if the season hadn’t been postponed.
I still think the Hurricanes need to make a move for a legitimate starter and if that ends up happening, either Mrazek or Reimer will be moved. However, if the goaltending tandem stays the same next season I think there’s a good chance Reimer ends up challenging for the starter’s role. He’s not going to be a permanent fix and we have no idea which version of Reimer will show up next season but at the very least, he provides a solid backup option who’s able to play a high number of games for the Hurricanes.
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