The James Reimer Conundrum

Toronto Maple Leafs' goalie James Reimer is one of the most frustrating goalies in the NHL. Both to play against and to watch as a spectator. There is no doubting his ability between the posts and as the following videos show, he's a top notch shot-stopper.

Optimus Reim is a superb goalie to watch, especially as a neutral, but when you look at the NHL's official stats page, he isn't in the top 10 for any category. He's rarely in the top 20. Toronto is 4th on the 'goals for' list so far this season but 19th on the 'goals against' category. Why the big difference? While up front, the shooters are doing the job, Kadri, van Riemsdyk, Kessel and Bozak are all in double figures for goals.

While the forwards are scoring for fun, it's a different story on the other side of the blue line. The defencemen's +/- are all over the place. They range from +14 to -12. From an offensive point of the view, the Leaf's D-Men are doing pretty well, Dion Phaneuf is currently the league's 5th highest goal scoring defenseman and Franson and Holzer also have a few goals.

Some defensive teams can handle the offensive/defensive balance. Anaheim and Chicago for example do this very well. However when a team gets this wrong, it's the goalie that suffers. Realistically there's only so many shots the man at the back can stop. Reimer is a perfect example of this. His save percentage is 0.917 which is better than players like Hotlby, Backstrom, Hiller and Brodeur. This is even more evident when you watch a Leafs game and hear "saved by Reimer" over and over again but still the goals sneak in.

As long as the Leafs continue to score more than they concede, they will always continue to do well, however until the defencemen tighten things up at the back, Reimer will continue to post average numbers. Both Riemer and team mate Ben Scrivens, deserve more recognition than the numbers show. Both keepers always put in solid shifts and the real reason why the Leafs are doing so well.