A playoff race such as the one the Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves in requires the coaches to handle players with perfection, especially their young players and especially a young goaltender. For all his experience in the game Leaf coach Ron Wilson has erred with James Reimer.
Reimer is a big reason, along with Phil Kessel and captain Dion Phaneuf, the Leafs managed to crawl to within three points of the 8th and final playoff spot. A 5-3 home-ice loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on March 6 2011 may have only lost them a point in the race - after the game they were four from 8th - but it also saw them loss ground to 9th place Buffalo and the 7th place Rangers.
Ron Wilson Should Have Rested James Reimer
It has stalled the Leafs and the game itself saw Reimer turn in what was arguably his first poor performance since being given the reins. He took the Air Canada Centre fans out of the game early by whiffing on what looked like a routine Marion Hossa shot, his first test of the game.
“He just came in and he’s a good player and he knows how to score,” Reimer said of the goal. “I didn’t see it right off his stick. And I personally thought I had it but it was in the net. It was frustrating. That’s not the way you want to start, you always want to make that first save. It’s the biggest save of the game. That’s on me.”
The 22-year-old - he turns 23 March 15 - wound up being pulled after 40 minutes and did not fare well in the game, stopping just 14 shots and allowing all five Hawk goals, including one that turned out to be the winner by former Leaf prospect Viktor Stallberg. There can be no finger of blame pointed at a player so young who's done so much. The goalie's sub-par performance in a must win game is on the coach.
James Reimer: Playoff Hockey for Two Months
Reimer did not get his first NHL start, a 32 save 5-1 win over the Senators in Ottawa, until January 1. Since then the Manitoba native has started 19 games in a little over two months in the midst of a playoff race with a lot of implications for the franchise, not to mention pressure from fans who haven't seen playoff hockey since Leaf fan Justin Bieber was 8.
Further, before the Chicago game Reimer was on quite a run of games. Since J.S. Giguere had to come out of that important 2-1 win over Buffalo on Feb. 16, Reimer had started all 8 games, including 3 in 4 nights and a Saturday night game at home followed the next day by an afternoon contest in Atlanta.
That's a heavy workload for a veteran NHL goalie but more so for a young goalie. It stands to reason that being introduced to the jacked-up environment of the NHL in the midst of a playoff push watched by one of the most scrutinizing fan bases in sports is draining mentally and physically. His performance against the Hawks showed just that.
Ron Wilson Missed Chance to Rest Reimer
Giguere is a veteran capable of coming in and winning. If he loses? Then Reimer has had a rest and is ready to turn in a top performance in their next game, the benefit of a night at the end of the bench providing energy. Now that he's had a shaky start can you go back to him, without a rest and with a bit of his confidence drained away?
Failing to handle a young goalie right during a playoff drive not only hurts you in the now but may set a young goalie back. And both outcomes were avoidable because you had to know that, without a rest, young James Reimer was headed for a clunker.
Even though it appears Ron Wilson didn't.
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