SAN JOSE, Calif. — James Reimer knew full well it was coming. He has almost exclusively been trotted out as cannon fodder this season.
With the Toronto Maple Leafs playing for the third time in four days against a well-rested home team, the only way this was going to become an unlikely victory was if the backup goaltender grabbed the two points and snuck out the back door of SAP Center.
Reimer came awfully close.
After surrendering goals 11 seconds apart early in Thursday’s game, he closed the door on the San Jose Sharks. They threw 17 shots on him during a second-period onslaught and had numerous chances in the final 20 minutes to score the insurance goal that only came once Reimer had been pulled for an extra attacker.
It was the kind of performance contending teams around the NHL will be coveting in the second half of the season — although no one is confusing the plummeting Leafs with one of those right now.
Which begs the question: If Toronto continues to sag, should Reimer be moved ahead of the March 2 trade deadline?
The timing finally seems right to shop him. An important off-season looms for Leafs management and right now they lack the kind of cap flexibility needed to re-sign all of their impending free agents — a group that includes Jonathan Bernier, the man who has supplanted Reimer for the team’s top job.
With Bernier almost certain to receive a hefty raise this summer, the notion of paying Reimer $2.3 million next season to play sparingly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
The contract itself isn’t prohibitive, especially since the belief here is that Reimer is capable of platooning or even challenging to be a No. 1 elsewhere, it’s just that the cap-strapped Leafs have clearly decided Bernier is their man and should probably be paying less for the guy playing behind him.
The most difficult part about trading a goaltender is that you rarely receive much in return, which is why Reimer wasn’t moved last summer. But we saw Arizona get a third-round pick from Minnesota for rental Devan Dubnyk earlier this week and that isn’t nothing.
Reimer should still have value based on his career to date — only Tuukka Rask, Sergei Bobrovsky, Carey Price, Semyon Varlamov and Bernier have played at least 140 games by age 27 with a save percentage better than his .913 — and injuries are starting to pop up in creases around the NHL.
While some might point to his .906 save percentage this season as a sign that he’s slipping, it’s worth noting that a couple tough outings have skewed that number. He’s also being used almost exclusively in the second half of back-to-backs and those can be tough games to play.
“You’re most likely going to get more chances and shots in the back-to-backs just because (your team is) a little tired,” Reimer said after the 3-1 loss to the Sharks. “It’s a good opportunity. You can be the difference-maker in every game.”
Under interim coach Peter Horachek, the Leafs had been playing tighter defensively — at least until arriving in San Jose. They were a tired team and ripe for the picking.
Reimer finished with 39 saves in the game and said that he was happy and proud with the performance, before adding an important caveat: “It is also about wins, so you can only be so proud.”
The pride has been tested often since the Leafs acquired Bernier in a June 2013 trade to essentially take his place. The one-time No. 1 experienced plenty of frustration while adapting to a lesser role last season but feels that he’s matured in recent months.
Rather than ask himself why, the 26-year-old has committed himself to focusing on what — as in what he can control.
“Sometimes your circumstances aren’t going to change or stuff might not always go how you want it to go,” said Reimer. “It’s all about how you’re going to respond to it. You can sit there and pout about it and be in a bad mood or you can make the most of it.
“I think for me that’s the biggest thing — instead of wishing things would change, I just put my head down and enjoy where (I’m) at.”
Reimer has essentially become the Leafs version of a long reliever; he’s the man called upon in a tough situation to hold things together as best he can so that the team can move on to the next game.
That’s not the way he looks at it, of course, and the fact he’s registered at least 30 saves in 10 of 14 starts suggests that he’s continued to battle despite enduring busy nights after periods of inactivity. Among his wins this season are games where he stopped 45, 38, 41 and 33 shots.
Had his teammates found a way to get one more goal in San Jose — and they certainly had their chances — he could have added another impressive victory to that list.
“We feel for him,” said teammate Cody Franson.
Reimer doesn’t give you the impression that he’s looking for any pity. He hasn’t complained about his workload during a season where he’s probably going to see the fewest appearances of his NHL career and that’s not going to change.
But he won’t deny that he’d like to be more heavily relied upon.
“You want to get an opportunity to really show what you can do but it’s out of my hands,” said Reimer. “I love playing the game, I love battling for my teammates.”
Even under new leadership in Horacheck, the chances are likely to be few and far between. I asked the interim coach if he might be inclined to use Reimer a little bit more following his strong outing in San Jose and he gave a pretty non-committal response.
So it’ll likely be another two weeks before we see the backup in action. The smart money is on Jan. 29, at home, when the Leafs face Arizona in the second half of a back-to-back.