Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Anderson And Reimer: Reclaiming Thrones That Shouldn't Have Had Usurpers!

Craig Anderson of the Ottawa Senators and James Reimer of the Toronto Maple Leafs guard the nets for Ontario NHL teams. They each showed up one fine day during the 2010/11 season for struggling franchises, although that is as far as the similarities (Save for one more obvious one) go. Craig is 34. Reimer is 27. Craig has been in the NHL since way back in 2002/03, whereas Reimer's '10/11 season was his rookie campaign.

Their paths have been very different since that 2010/11 season. Reimer looked good that year, 20-10-5, 2.60, .921. It wasn't enough to get him much Vezina, Hart or even Calder consideration. Yet, from that moment, he has build up a strong following in Toronto. Anderson arrived in Ottawa with the Sens out of the playoff picture (Toronto also missed, but just barely, that season). He had lost his previous six games with the Colorado Avalanche. And for this reason, he supposedly wasn't a good goalie. The Senators were struggling. They were just 18-31-9 on February 18th of that season. Anderson played the next night for his Sens debut. In the irony of ironies, he faced the Leafs in Toronto with James Reimer in net. Both goalies got the shutout, but Anderson won the shootout (The last time, as of this writing, that Ottawa and Toronto met, the two goalies were again in net, and again the Sens took it in a shootout). The Sens didn't look back. They went 14-9-1 in their last 24 games, as Anderson was the difference. Ottawa used six goaltenders that season. Five of them had losing records. Craig Anderson went 11-5-1, 2.05, .939 for his new team that season. Ottawa had a long history of good, sometimes great goaltending. But not the kind of netminding that steals you games.

The shootout loss to Ottawa dropped Toronto to just 25-27-7, but the Leafs rallied, going 12-5-4 over their next 21 games, before dropping the last two games of the season in regulation time. Still, that and the coming of Optimus Reimer was a good sign that the franchise's goaltending woes were also over. Toronto didn't get into the playoffs, of course.

Reimer saw his game falter the next season, as did the Leafs' team. Anderson also faltered a bit, but nonetheless, given his first taste of a postseason in an Ottawa uniform, the 30-year old nearly fashioned a stunning upset of the New York Rangers. Craig was nothing short of excellent that postseason.

Reimer has only experienced the postseason once. That was back in 2013, and until the Leafs squandered a two-goal lead late in game seven versus the Boston Bruins, it was all looking up. Meanwhile, Anderson beat the Montreal Canadians almost single-handily.

The next season was a rough one for both franchises and both goalies. Anderson still fashioned a winning record, but saw his goals-against-average rise to 3. Reimer's ended up well over that, 3.16. Worse still, he lost the #1 job to newcomer (From Los Angeles) Jonathan Bernier. Reimer was just 12-16-1. Leaf fans showed impatience with him and vented towards his wife on twitter. Reimer had seemingly had enough. He requested a trade, but later withdrew it. The next season went no better for him, as he again lost 16 games. But (for him) two good things happened that potentially kept him a Leaf. Bernier struggled in his second tour of duty for Toronto. Reimer played 35 games, again lost 16 of them, but did the right things off the ice. With the Maple Leafs (Make Me Laughs, for sure at this point), James kept his composure, and kept a positive attitude. Which was refreshing on the whole. Toronto had one dreary finish to the season. Wholesale changes were in order in the offseason. But James Reimer was still a Leaf to start the 2015/16 season.

Craig Anderson, though, bounced right back in a big way on the ice, while being a strong veteran presence off the ice for the Senators in 2014/15. He finished seventh in the league in save percentage, .923. Can you believe it though, he was almost swept under the rug come playoff time?

The Senators enjoyed a tremendous second half. Alas, our boy was hurt during most of it. Worse, the story in the NHL at this time was Andrew Hammond. Andrew stepped into the spotlight for Ottawa in goal and was nothing short of brilliant. 20-1-2. That was his record. Was this the end of Anderson?

When the Sens fell behind 2-0 in the best-of-seven playoffs vs. the Habs, it looked pretty bad for Ottawa. Anderson was needed. He lost a tough game in overtime to put the Senators on the brink of elimination. But from there, Craig showed the Sens the way. With a brilliant performance over the course of the remaining three games, Anderson got Ottawa all the way back to a game six, finishing the playoffs with a remarkable SV% of .972. Sens fans were left to ponder the outcome of the postseason had Andy been in there from the get-go.

As for Hammond, he's been hurt this season. Oh, he's 2-0-2, so he can't lose. Anderson, however, is continuing to prove he's The Man in Ottawa. In Hammond's absence, all Craig Anderson has done is gone 10-5-3. While his GAA is 2.78 and his SV% is only .916, it doesn't look like (baring injury) that Hammond is needed as Craig continues to win (Actually steal) the big games. A recent stretch has seen him post back-to-back shutouts. Craig isn't giving up his post.

Reimer was looking at the life of a backup. But then this season started, and Bernier was 0-8-1. James was given the ball, and he ran with it. A recent injury has sidelined him. But all James has done is go 7-3-4, 2.07, .934. Is the James Reimer of old back? Time will tell, obviously. Toronto is in a rebuild mode this season, but has new personnel. Most notably, coach Mike Babcock and general manager Lou Lamoriello, both of whom are welcome additions to a Leaf team that seemingly had no direction prior to this year.


It's a rebuilding time for the Toronto Maple Leafs, whereas the Ottawa Senators are building after their stunning playoff appearance of last season. But if the "Battle Of Ontario" is to ever resume (And wasn't it great back in the early 2000s? Wait...It's been that long?) it will need the top-notch goaltending to get the fans' attention. The Masked Marvels of the ice are the last line of defence and often the difference between winning and losing. It's like pitching in baseball. In order to be successful, you have to have it. While Ottawa and Toronto might not think that Craig Anderson or James Reimer can win every game, at this point it's pretty obvious that when their in the crease, the odds of winning go up significantly.


References


“Official Site Of The National Hockey League.” NHL.com, National Hockey League, 1 Dec. 2015, www.nhl.com/.

Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Youtube. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/>.

1 comment:

  1. Wonder how this new whiz kid goalie in To. will affect the Reimer-Bernier pairing.

    ReplyDelete