Cool drink of water?

Onto the blank sheet that is the 2011-12 Toronto Maple Leafs season skated Jonas Gustavsson between the pipes for the club’s first exhibition game on Monday night.

On the bench was Ben Scrivens. Watching from on high was the sage veteran, James Reimer, with sidekick Jussi Rynnas.

As a collection of professional goaltending talent on which to base a season with an eye toward returning to the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2004, perhaps the best that can be said is that Vesa Toskala was nowhere to be found.

And while Game 1 of the exhibition season is too early to write off the Leafs on the basis of their goaltending or any other perceived woes, the body of work on which a club built - as president and general manager Brian Burke likes to say – from the net out is relying hardly reminds anyone of Martin Brodeur, or even Dwayne Roloson.

Collectively they represent 102 games of NHL goaltending experience. The veteran among the group is Gustavsson, with 65 over parts of two seasons. It probably isn’t why he got the start in the curtain-raiser, but is as good a reason as any.

Of course it’s what Gustavsson’s done in his brief exposure to NHL shooters – his save percentage has yet to top the .900 mark -- that helps explains the ascendance of Reimer as the de facto No.1 stopper based on his 37 career NHL games, all with the Leafs last season.

Can it only be two years ago that Burke made a clandestine recruiting trip to Sweden aimed as scooping the Sedin twins from the Canucks and instead returned with The Monster?

It seems like a career arc ago as Gustavsson has since gone from the answer to a question mark, albeit one in the second-year of a two-year $2.7-million, one-way contract.

He fared reasonably well, giving up just one goal on 12 shots to a spotty Ottawa Senators lineup before giving way to Scrivens midway through the second period.

Scrivens, who has worked his way up the Leafs depth chart along a path first tread by Reimer – ECHL success, followed by solid work with the AHL Marlies – didn’t get much work but held Ottawa to one goal on 13 shots, that one deflecting in off a teammates’ skate.

Watching it all with a veteran’s eye from above was Reimer. It’s impossible to call him grizzled with a straight face, his studied one-week’s stubble notwithstanding. But he is the man, though despite his rapid ascendence as Leaf Nation’s latest Cujo-in-waiting Reimer at least sounds like he’s not yet counting his shutouts before they’ve hatched.

"I still feel competition, for sure," said Reimer, who will surely get his share of work as the Leafs play five exhibition games in six nights. "Anytime you’re in camp with goalies of that caliber you’re always feeling competition. But if you worry about what they’re doing and how well they’re playing I’d probably suck. I try to focus on what I can do to get better."

Leaf fans would be satisified – beside themselves with joy, probably - if he ends up just as good as last year.

For all the angst or optimism around the Leafs and what Tim Connolly might mean to Phil Kessel or the evolution of Luke Schenn or the leadership qualities of Dion Phaneuf -- who set the tone with an elbow penalty and a fight on his first shift -- a disproportionate amount of the club’s fortunes are riding on the shoulders of Reimer.

For half a season the pride of Morweena provided the club with above average NHL goaltending, at least judging by his .921 save percentage, which was good for 10th in the league as the Leafs went 20-10-5 in his 35 starts.

It was a cameo good enough to earn him a three-year, $5.4-million contract and status as the undisputed No.1 goalie in the organization.

The enthusiasm for his play might be best explained by the desert that preceded his arrival. In the four seasons before he took over, the Leafs didn’t finish higher than 27th in the NHL in save percentage. Last year they improved to 21st.

Reimer, merely by his competency, appears like a tall, cold, beer to a fan base wandering in the desert. Still, drinking too deeply all at once - while tempting - may not be wise.

Michael Grange will provide insight and analysis on all the top stories in sports.