from Travis Yost of TSN,
One of the more intriguing signings of the off-season was that of goaltender James Reimer by the Florida Panthers.
The move makes a lot of sense for both parties involved. For Reimer, he’s got a very real long-term opportunity at leading a team and seeing significant ice-time – something that has been hit-or-miss through the earlier parts of his career. For Florida, they have now an easy, smooth transition in the crease. Current starter Roberto Luongo is now 37-years of age, and at some point, the Panthers needed to start hedging against age and mileage degradation. To that end, Reimer is a fantastic bet.
The curious part of this goaltending dynamic is really in the short-term. The logical solution is to create a 1A/1B scenario in Florida, where Luongo and Reimer will shoulder an equitable share in net. This will alleviate some of the workload for the older Luongo and provide real shot-stopping competency in the 30-or-40 games that Reimer does work the crease.
There is an interesting wrinkle, however; Luongo’s performance isn’t diminishing. In fact, he seems to be enjoying a late-career renaissance period that we have really only seen from a handful of players. Whereas most players at this stage of their careers are hanging on by a thread, Luongo’s trekking on the path blazed by Jaromir Jagr – excellence that’s superseded with each passing year despite every reason to be hesitant about his game heading south.
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