Sign Raanta in the offseason, let Reimer walk. Then let Raanta and Bernier battle it out.
- mykokes

Oh a NYR and Blackhawks backup? Sounds great....

Blame the current sabers captain for that. Elbow to the head.
- zazzle

So true. He's never been the same since that.

Acquiring any young goalie prospect will be fairly costly, as well as risky. Acquiring an older goalie will also be costly, but less risky. At this point the Leafs cannot afford to be dealing picks and prospects, so probably best to keep bernier and sign an established goalie as a UFA to help him out. There are so many quality goalies available on the market every year that I'm sure they can sign one to a reasonable deal who's willing to backup Bernier. His gives Bibeau/Sparks time to develop and Bernier proper support to prove himself in his final year. I'm also confident that with their goalie trading track record, the Leafs will not find what they need in a trade.

1. I'm going to ignore your first point since you apparently took it personally, which is funny.

2. It has been stated that they're in a rebuild, which is code for tank. You're not going to get any management team come right out and say they're going to tank. "Rebuild" is a much more positive term. They were never going to compete for a playoff spot and that was confirmed when they got rid of Kessel.

3. On-ice compete or not, they are currently missing a tonne of things that make a team successful. You can try as hard as you want, but when you don't score much or when your goalie lets in 1/4 of the shots thrown his way, trying hard only goes so far.

4. Thanks bro! And by bro, I mean never my bro.
- Surrender Monkey

Rebuild can be code for tank, but rebuild can also mean they're actually rebuilding. Rebuild does not automatically equal tank. That being said, they could still tank the season if at 60 games they have no chance at the playoffs and want to get a higher pick, but I don't think it's their long term year plan. You don't trade just one piece if you want to throw away a season.

Bernier and Reimer have both been weak since Bernier arrived. They have just escaped the criticism the last couple of year due to the team's overall play...but they have been a big part of many of the losses the last couple of years and it's more visible now because the guys in front of them are playing a better puck possession game in front of them. They're both backups at best.