Despite a poor performance against Edmonton, James Reimer has been a nice find for Sharks.
For the first time in his career, James Reimer felt what it was like to be traded when he was acquired by the San Jose Sharks from the Toronto Maple Leafs back on Feb. 27.
Thus far, Reimer is settling in with ease in his new surroundings as he’s been exactly what team teal was looking for between the pipes.
While it was a very uncharacteristic performance from Reimer in a 6-3 loss to Edmonton, Reimer has won three of his first five starts with the Sharks as he’s provided the kind of backup goaltending they’ve been lacking all season. He’s been very good between the pipes, posting a .920 save percentage, 2.03 GAA and two shutouts during his brief tenure in teal. Quite impressive numbers.
Don’t get me wrong, Alex Stalock was a great teammate and someone Sharks fans were pulling for after the injury he sustained. However, he wasn’t able to put things together over the past couple of seasons, and San Jose couldn’t afford to wear down Martin Jones with the postseason approaching.
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Now, with Reimer in the fold, the Sharks have two legitimate goaltending options heading into the playoffs. Actually, Reimer is the netminder with more experience after backstopping the Maple Leafs against the Boston Bruins during the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs.
While Toronto would fall in seven games, Reimer acquitted himself well with a .923 save percentage during that series. Meanwhile, Jones has appeared in two playoff contests, but has only faced seven shots against.
Make no mistake, Jones is still the number one goaltender in San Jose as he’s put together a sensational campaign in his first year as a full-time starter.
The luxury for Peter DeBoer is he now has a trustworthy backup who he can turn to in order to give Jones a breather down the stretch. After all, Jones has appeared in 60 of the Sharks first 74 games which is tied for first in the league with none other than his former teammate Jonathan Quick.
Reimer will likely see a couple more starts down the stretch for San Jose as DeBoer wants to ensure that both his netminders are sharp and on top of their games.
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It was a shrewd piece of business by Doug Wilson to trade for Reimer to shore up San Jose’s backup position.
Thus far, Reimer has been everything as advertised for the Sharks as his acquisition makes this one of the deepest San Jose teams that Wilson has put together.