Could, Should, Will James Reimer Be Re-Signed For Next Year?

[bob_sauve28]

He is obviously our best goalie right now. He will be 38 next year, but hey, 40 is the new 30, so I can't see that as a deal breaker. 

Just think that he will probably get other offers. 

Does he block Levi? Is that a bad thing? 

 

[Flashsabre]

I’d sign Reimer and move off of UPL. It’s time for Levi to step up.

[Wyldnwoody44]

It may be a year too early for Levi, hard to say. It's also possible he never gets to the level he needs at the NHL as he is quite small and that works against him unless he is absolutley elite with everything else. 

[Ctaeth]

8 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Does he block Levi? Is that a bad thing? 

I'm happy he is blocking him if he is playing like this

[HumanSlinky39]

Reimer has been great, but he's going to be 38 and struggled the previous two seasons. Love what he's done for us, but counting on him to repeat this performance at his age is an extremely risky proposition.

[Pimlach]

Dear Kevyn Adams,

You go get a starting goalie that can play the bulk of a season, more than 38 year old Reimer can.  You can offer Reimer something for #2 or #3 duty. 

Maybe UPL is in the deal for that goalie?  Maybe not.   We don't have the inside scoop on the UPL performance degrade, but you do.  So maybe he gets another shot?  If he does you need an NHL goalie challenging him that can get us to the playoffs, you need insurance on next season.   You cannot fail again.  

You assume that Levi needs another year in Rochester, you plan on that, and if he really doesn't you have a good problem.  You do not count on Levi to be ready just yet.  

 

[JoeSchmoe]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

We don't have the inside scoop on the UPL performance degrade

Don't you mean UPL "regression to the mean". He's been bad for almost his entire pro career.

[PerreaultForever]

Oh for crying out loud, if your plan for success next season hinges on whether or not you're going to sign an old waiver goalie you are well and truly f'd before you even start. 

[LGR4GM]

[Pimlach]

3 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Don't you mean UPL "regression to the mean". He's been bad for almost his entire pro career.

I don’t mean that because goalies take time and prior to this season his NHL experience was about 90 games and he was good in almost half of them and looked like he was steadily improving last season.  I do mean his performance degradation, especially since November.  He was playing good for a time.  Then he started mixing bad games with good, to now which has been consistently bad.  

[bob_sauve28]

No one is saying he will be a savior, just an insurance policy

[Flashsabre]

Could we coax Craig Anderson out of retirement and go with an Anderson-Reimer combo?😛

The NHL should allow each team a 3rd goalie in the NHL roster. 
 

Id sign Reimer as an insurance policy.

Edited Wednesday at 11:40 PM by Flashsabre

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Reimer has been great, but he's going to be 38 and struggled the previous two seasons. Love what he's done for us, but counting on him to repeat this performance at his age is an extremely risky proposition.

On my soapbox again...Goaltending doesn't happen in a vacuum. Reimer didn't win games earlier this year because our defensive play was atrocious. Since then we added a better defender in Bernard Docker and lost a defensive liability in Dylan Cozens. Bringing Reimer back is not the worst thing. Everyone wants elite goaltending but teams don't just hand out elite goalies. If they trade one, it's because they don't believe in them or think they have better.

[thewookie1]

1. If UPL is the slated starter... no; I'd need a better backup who could be a 1B that could theoretically save our skin. But must be on a 1 year deal

2. If we move on from UPL to a guy like Demko, sure. He's a savvy vet that won't make a fuss and if Demko gets hurt wouldn't make a squawk if Levi hops over him or we acquire a rental starter.

3. If we move on from UPL for Levi... no; like with option 1, we'd need a solid 1B to save us if Levi struggles. However the backup wouldn't need to be on a 1 year deal.

 

What we cannot do:

4. UPL and Levi straight up, this would be akin to throwing three go routes on a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd & 10 from your 10 hoping you succeed. Not impossible but very unlikely.

5. Another 3 headed monster situation

Edited Thursday at 12:13 AM by thewookie1

[pi2000]

sign him then trade him for Craig Anderson, sign Carter Hutton

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Could we coax Craig Anderson out of retirement and go with an Anderson-Reimer combo?😛

Maybe Hasek wants to come out of retirement so he can face Ovi in a shoot out?

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

1. If UPL is the slated starter... no; I'd need a better backup who could be a 1B that could theoretically save our skin. But must be on a 1 year deal

2. If we move on from UPL to a guy like Demko, sure. He's a savvy vet that won't make a fuss and if Demko gets hurt wouldn't make a squawk if Levi hops over him or we acquire a rental starter.

3. If we move on from UPL for Levi... no; like with option 1, we'd need a solid 1B to save us if Levi struggles. However the backup wouldn't need to be on a 1 year deal.

 

What we cannot do:

4. UPL and Levi straight up, this would be akin to throwing three go routes on a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd & 10 from your 10 hoping you succeed. Not impossible but very unlikely.

5. Another 3 headed monster situation

Unless Adams is fired (which seems unlikely) I fully expect him to do just that and run a 3 headed monster with UPL Levi and Reimer to start the year. If Levi plays well Reimer might get waived again but that's what Adams will do.

It's stupid, but that's Adams. 

[SABRES 0311]

I think Reimer should come back. Even if he can’t keep up his current level of performance, he is a stable goaltender. If UPL didn’t regress I would be more open to relying on Levi for backup duty.

[steveoath]

Recency bias strikes again

[LGR4GM]

Can't believe this has to be said out loud. 

Reimer is a nice story for a 37yr old keeper. Find an upgrade that's younger and better and stop this nonsense of "well, he played well for a month so good enough" because "good enough" clearly hasn't been good enough. They need to improve this because status quo is missing the playoffs.

[Flashsabre]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Can't believe this has to be said out loud. 

Reimer is a nice story for a 37yr old keeper. Find an upgrade that's younger and better and stop this nonsense of "well, he played well for a month so good enough" because "good enough" clearly hasn't been good enough. They need to improve this because status quo is missing the playoffs.

The real change though needs to be UPL. You need a legit proven starter if you want to truly improve. 
 

Is there a Dubois for Kuemoer type trade but with the Sabres trading a goalie for goalie move where you acquire a vet goalie you hope regains his form?

UPL for Demko?

Edited Thursday at 11:52 AM by Flashsabre

[Doohickie]

7 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Maybe Hasek wants to come out of retirement so he can face Ovi in a shoot out?

Miller was at the game with TPegs the other night.

Just sayin'.

[DarthEbriate]

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Can't believe this has to be said out loud. 

Reimer is a nice story for a 37yr old keeper. Find an upgrade that's younger and better and stop this nonsense of "well, he played well for a month so good enough" because "good enough" clearly hasn't been good enough. They need to improve this because status quo is missing the playoffs.

Absolutely they should upgrade. But this is GM Sheevyn and goaltending we're talking about. It'll be all about if Reimer wants to be here or retire.

-----------

However, Reimer played well all season. His worst month statistically was March, followed by a tiny sample size in December when he lost a 5-5 SO to Detroit. Otherwise, he's been a steady slightly-above-average goalie and an excellent backup. Their failure was waiving him in the first place and then not trusting him with a 60-40 workload all season.

It sounds silly, but if UPL starts 47 games, Reimer 33, and Levi 2... this team is very likely in the playoffs -- admittedly as 7-8 by the skin of their teeth, but still in.

If Reimer can give you one more season of .900 backup work (25-30 games), he's still a valid and inexpensive option, at least until Levi reaches the games played limit to be subject to waivers.

[zow2]

16 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

I’d sign Reimer and move off of UPL. It’s time for Levi to step up.

 

Agree with this 100%.  I think UPL could still bring back some trade value in return.  He's a guy some other teams may want and realize a change of scenery could do him well.   Keep Reimer, sign another vet G as insurance, hope and pray Levi turns out to be the guy at the NHL level.

[Archie Lee]

1.) Determine what the likely cause of UPL’s regression was and if it can be fixed. If it can’t be fixed, find a way to move him. If that means attaching an asset to make a trade, so be it. No more keeping players on larger contracts (Olofsson, Jokiharju) who the coach has no confidence in. 

2.) Assuming no team is trading us their perennial top-10 goalie, ensure you start the season with two veterans who we at least feel comfortable are physically capable of playing 45 games. No more 37-38 year olds who we can’t lean on to physically manage the role.  One of the two vets could be UPL, but it doesn’t have to be. The reason we need two is that we need to increase our chances of finding at least one who can give us 45 games of “make the playoffs” level goaltending.

3.) Levi needs to be viewed as the “ace in the hole”. The plan should be for him to go to Rochester. We are actually fortunate that we have a goalie in Levi who might be ready to be a NHL starter and who we can send to the AHL without having to clear waivers. We need to take advantage of that by starting the year with two goalies who are ahead of Levi on the depth chart. If one or both of those goalies falters, then we break the glass and call up Levi. 

4.) This should really be #1 on the list. We need a head coach who installs a structured system that is repeatable, regardless of who is injured, and that helps our goalies. In his 9 seasons as a HC since Ruff left Buffalo, his teams have averaged 11th in Goals for and 23rd in Goals against. Ruff once missed the playoffs in Dallas with the league’s 2nd highest scoring team. Replacing Granato with Ruff in order to instil structure is maybe the biggest sham of the Pegula Reign of Error. If Ruff is back next season, then we will most likely only make the playoffs if we out-score our defensive deficiencies.