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Carolina Hurricanes: Reviewing the James Reimer trade

By Conor Power

RALEIGH, NC - JANUARY 11: James Reimer #47 of the Carolina Hurricanes gets a shutout victory and is congratulated by teammate Sebastian Aho #20 during an NHL game against the Los Angeles Kings on January 11, 2020 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC - JANUARY 11: James Reimer #47 of the Carolina Hurricanes gets a shutout victory and is congratulated by teammate Sebastian Aho #20 during an NHL game against the Los Angeles Kings on January 11, 2020 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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On June 30th, 2019 there was a trade between the Canes and Florida Panthers, but how has the trade panned out for Carolina Hurricanes?

Carolina parted ways with goaltender Scott Darling and a 6th round pick in the 2020 NHL draft (originally Buffalo’s pick from the Jeff Skinner trade). In return, they picked up former starting goaltender James Reimer. Suddenly, Reimer has turned his career around and suddenly is one of the best goalies in the league.

Let’s start with the Carolina side. At the all star break, Reimer boasts an 11-6-1 record with a .921 save percentage (that is not a typo) and a 2.47 goals against average. He is also tied 2nd in the NHL for shutouts with 3. For what it’s worth, Petr Mrazek also has 3 shutouts. Reimer’s established himself quite quickly as a solid goaltender, but this goes further than base stats.

Reimer has a league leading 1.21 dFSv%, and a league leading 9.36 GSAx. He’s also top 15 in GSAA with 6.81. All of his analytics and underlying numbers suggest he should be in the Vezina running this season. They are that phenomenal. There’s a strong case that the Hurricanes should just sit Mrazek and ride Reimer, but that’s a different debate.

As for Scott Darling? Florida put him on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buyout almost as soon as the trade was made official. He is now playing in Austria for HC Innsbruck. Carolina acquired Darling for a 3rd round pick in 2018 from the Chicago Blackhawks. He was instantly signed to a four year extension worth $16,600,000.

What a job done in this trade by Don Waddell and the Carolina Hurricanes upper management. Turning a goalie who was underperforming to put it nicely into a potential Vezina candidate. This doesn’t happen often, but it is clear to see that a lot of the recent trades made by Waddell and management have worked out for Carolina in ground-breaking ways.

Question for Cardiac Cane readers: Who do you think Carolina should start against Vegas when they get back from their bye week?

Next. Grading the Defenders and Goalies. dark

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