No. 1: James Reimer
Before you throw your computer or smartphone across the room, hear me out. Reimer may have caused you nightmares as a Leafs fan throughout the 2010s, but it wasn’t exactly his fault. Well, not every time.
The Carolina Hurricanes currently have three goalies that are NHL caliber. Petr Mrazek is currently out with a thumb injury, but when he returns, he’ll definitely kick either Reimer or Alex Nedeljkovic out of the back-up position.
Since Reimer is a pending UFA and the older goalie, he’ll most likely be the odd-man out. Instead of sending him to the Taxi-Squad or letting him get claimed on waivers for free, the Hurricanes may be inclined to move on from him, so they can get an asset in return.
With a $3.4M cap-hit, it’s a big contract for a back-up, but if the Leafs are desperate, they could make it work.
Although Reimer made a lot of fans upset, he’s still a solid NHL goalie and there aren’t too many other options out there. Similarly to Bernier, if Reimer was on a Leafs roster thats best defenseman wasn’t Dion Phaneuf, he could have taken this team far into the playoffs.
Reimer isn’t going to compete for the Vezina Trophy, but he’s going to keep you in games. In a limited playoff career, Reimer has a .925 SV % and 2.70 GAA. If Reimer replicated those stats on the Leafs, they’d win more than they lost and he’d be a much better addition than Hutchinson.
I know that a Reimer reunion scares Leafs fans, but desperate times, call for desperate measures. If Campbell and Andersen’s injuries continue to nag them, then they need to upgrade that position immediately.