The Senators officially signed James Reimer to a one year contract today. The contract carries an AAV of $850,000. The Senators will be Reimer’s eighth NHL team, with the veteran most recently spending most of last season with the Buffalo Sabres. In his one AHL game with the Belleville Senators on Sunday, Reimer gave up six goals on 28 shots. Let’s dive into the details on the signing.
Reimer by the numbers
As far as what he’s been up to lately, Reimer was unable to secure an NHL contract to start the season. He played the waiting game, hoping for a team in need of goaltending help to look his way. That team came in the form of the Ottawa Senators. Here are Reimer’s numbers over the last two seasons:
- 2023-24 (Detroit Red Wings): 11-8-2, 3.11 GAA, .904 SV%
- 2024-25 (Anaheim Ducks): 0-2-0, 4.50 GAA, .864 SV%
- 2024-25 (Buffalo Sabres): 10-8-2, 2.85 GAA, .901 SV%
Outside of the rough two games with the Ducks, Reimer was a decent backup these last two years in the same division that he’ll be playing in with the Senators. For his career, he has a record of 225-187-65 and a save percentage of .910. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to play against the Senators. He’s 19-6-4 lifetime against the Sens with a remarkable .925 SV% and four shutouts.
Necessary Move by the Senators
Last week I wrote about the horrible goaltending of the Senators this season. It only got worse, with the Senators giving up eight goals in an embarrassing loss to the Avalanche last Thursday. In the article, I mentioned Reimer as a smaller change option the team could make. He’s shown himself to be a capable goalie at the NHL level for many years. Sure enough, Steve Staios felt that he couldn’t wait any longer to make the move.
Linus Ullmark is currently away from the team. Leevi Merilainen has a woeful .866 SV% this season. Neither Mads Sogaard nor Hunter Shephard are trusted to play NHL minutes by the organization. Make no mistake about it, this is a desperation move, but a needed one.
Bottom Line
The Senators are currently going through one of the worst goaltending seasons in franchise history. Despite sitting third best in the league at shot prevention (25.4 shots against per game), they give up the sixth most goals against per game (3.36). Their team save percentage (.868) is the worst in the NHL, and the worst by the Sens since 1993-94.
In recent memory, Reimer’s worst save percentage was .890. That was in 43 games for the 2022-23 Sharks. Even at that level, Reimer would have the best save percentage on the team quite easily. The problem of course, is that Reimer is best suited as a backup, so he can’t fix the Sens goaltending issues on his own. The other issue is that it may be too late. The Senators have 38 games left and need to get hot right now. This signing was worth a chance, but there’s no time for Reimer to ease his way in. If the Sens don’t start winning right now, they’ll miss the playoffs in a year that they don’t have a first round pick. No pressure, right?
