Take a look at the top five teams in the NHL’s Eastern Conference and you’ll see a pattern in net: veteran goaltending.
The Boston Bruins and New York Rangers respectively employ superstars Tim Thomas and Henrik Lundqvist. The Pittsburgh Penguins have young Stanley Cup champion Marc-Andre Fleury. The Philadelphia Flyers and Florida Panthers rely on longtime NHLers Ilya Bryzgalov and Jose Theodore.
And the Leafs? Well, they’ve still got two relatively unproven puck-stopping commodities in James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson. While I’m not suggesting Toronto is in 10th place in the East because they don’t have a tried-and-true goalie, I do think acquiring an experienced netminder would help their playoff push.
At the start of the season Reimer had the starting job, but a concussion derailed him for six weeks, and since he returned in early December, he’s been far from the force that thrilled Leafs fans last season, posting a 7-4-4 record, 3.01 goals-against average and .900 save percentage.
Meanwhile, the third-year NHLer Gustavsson (10-7-0, 3.26 GAA, .896 SP) has been shaky as much as he’s been solid, and, like Reimer, unable to steal a game or two. Indeed, it says a lot when current AHLer Ben Scrivens holds the highest save percentage on the Leafs.
The question then, is who does GM Brian Burke target? While the easy answer is an elite young goalie stuck behind an established starter – Cory Schneider in Vancouver, or Jonathan Bernier in Los Angeles – the price Burke would have to pay in a trade is likely too high. A wiser choice would be a guy like Minnesota backup Josh Harding, a 27-year-old with five years in the NHL putting up tremendous numbers (2.03 GAA, .934 SP) and set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Harding won’t usurp Wild starter Nicklas Backstrom and rebuilding Minnesota wouldn’t ask for the world in a trade for him. He could blossom into a full-time No. 1 in Toronto, or at least push Reimer and Gustavsson for playing time and force them to either improve or be pushed to the side.
For all we know, Gustavsson or Reimer could yet become the long-term starter. But as a tandem, they’re not getting it done. And Toronto can’t afford to let them learn on the job if they want to keep playing past the regular season.
