Carousel in the crease

Really, does anybody at this stage know for sure who the No. 1 goalie is for the Toronto Maple Leafs?

It was supposed to be James Riemer at the start of the year, right?

And why wouldn’t it be? After all, Reimer entered this season with all of 37 games under his belt. He won 20 of them last year, so of course he’d be positioned at the top of the depth chart. Hall of Fame numbers, to be sure.

Of course to maintain his king-of-the-mountain status, it would require, among other things, winning games, and perhaps more importantly, staying healthy. Reimer got the winning part right, but as for his health part, well you know how that went. The smiling stopper got dinged in the head Oct. 22 in Montreal and hasn’t played since.

His immediate replacement, Jonas Gustavsson – commonly known as The Monster – was handed the ball, but fumbled it, thereby giving way to Ben Scrivens. To his credit, Scrivens rose to the challenge, but did not earn the trust of the coaching staff and the job for the No.1 goalie in Toronto remains wide open.

A week or so ago if you had asked most Leafs observers who would be the most likely candidate to back up Reimer upon his return, it would have been Scrivens, hands down. Now, after three straight road wins, not only has Gustavsson re-established himself as No. 2 on an ever-changing goalie depth chart, a bad performance or two by Reimer might just bump him up to No. 1.

That, in a nutshell, is the state of the nation where the Leafs goalies are concerned. Which is to say, nobody really knows who the team’s No. 1 goalie is. The good news is the team is winning.

Gustavsson is proving himself to be quite a competitor.

A lot of goalies might have wilted under the pressure of being bumped by a call-up from the minors when the starter went down, but not Gustavsson. He was given the opportunity to replace Reimer, but he looked shaky and the Leafs reacted by quickly sliding him to the backburner. It was no surprise, really, when the Leafs turned to Scrivens who, at 25, is significantly older and more mature than most rookies. But inexperienced nonetheless.

Scrivens has chiseled his way up from college hockey to the ECHL to the AHL and then to the NHL rather seamlessly. And he has given every indication he can play in the NHL.

But for a team that has missed the playoffs six years running, there is no room for error. And, more importantly, this is not a popularity contest. So even though Scrivens has performed well, he has not been anointed The Next One. A hot goaltender in Toronto will be given the nod, but at the first sign of faltering, someone else will be afforded a chance to step in. There’s no Martin Brodeur or Tim Thomas in this competition.

Reimer has been working hard in practice in the past week and is close to returning. Obviously he will be given every opportunity to reclaim his starter’s job, but he’ll have to work hard to keep it. Over the last week or so, The Monster has taken monster steps toward advancing his game.

It isn’t necessarily his numbers – an 8-4-0 record (which is pretty good) or a .901 save percentage and 3.06 goals-against average – that will win over coach Ron Wilson. It is his demeanor. Finally, Gustavsson looks comfortable. That, more than anything else, may buy him time in Toronto.

On a night when a number of former Ducks, including Leafs GM Brian Burke, ex-coach Ron Wilson, as well as winger Joffrey Lupul and defenceman Jake Gardiner were in the spotlight, it was Gustavsson who stole the show.

How long will that keep him in the crease in Toronto? Nobody knows for sure. But his play in the last week has certainly put him in the running of keeping a job in the league.

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy will cover the Toronto Maple Leafs for sportsnet.ca for the 2011/12 season.