The San Jose Sharks made three notable signings yesterday, with one of them being the addition of goaltender James Reimer.
Reimer is 33 years old and has spent the last two years with the Carolina Hurricanes, posting a .906 save percentage in 22 games this past season. He’s coming off a deal that paid him $3.4 million per year.
The netminder had a brief stint with the Sharks in the 2015-16 season, after being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs at the trade deadline. He played eight regular season games with the Sharks, posting a .938 save percentage.
I don’t mind this deal for the Sharks. Reimer is a veteran goalie who can play a high number of games and his two-year deal at $2.25 million per year is fairly reasonable. He can share the net with Adin Hill and should be a decent option if Hill stumbles.
The biggest issue with Reimer is that he’s highly inconsistent from year to year. Here are his stats over the last five seasons:
2016-17 (FLA): .920 SV% in 42 games
2017-18 (FLA): .913 SV% in 44 games
2018-19 (FLA): .900 SV% in 36 games
2019-20 (CAR): .914 SV% in 25 games
2020-21 (CAR): .906 SV% in 22 games
Essentially, it’s tough to be sure which Reimer the Sharks are going to get. To be fair though, I watched him quite a bit this season and he was generally pretty solid for the Hurricanes, who weren’t as strong defensively (especially early on in the year) as some may assume. Realistically, the Sharks aren't going to be much better off until their team defense is improved, but Reimer should certainly be an upgrade over the goaltending San Jose got last year.
Overall, not a bad signing for the team, especially at the price. I think at minimum, Reimer is a decent backup but if he’s performing well, he could be a pretty solid option to split the net with Adin Hill.
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Do you like the James Reimer signing for the Sharks?