The Ottawa Senators are in New York to face the Rangers on Wednesday night, trying to build on Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
The game will mark the official beginning of James Reimer's time in Ottawa, though it's not clear yet whether Reimer will start or back up against the Rangers. We do know that Hunter Shepard was sent back down to the AHL’s Belleville Senators on Wednesday morning, which leaves only Reimer and Leevi Merilainen on the NHL roster.
Merilainen played on Tuesday night in the victory over the Canucks and, if not for an awful, unforced giveaway by Dylan Cozens, he'd be savouring a shutout right now. But the last time the Sens tried to trot the young Finn out there in back-to-back games, he was part of an 8-2 shelling in Colorado.
After previous stops in Toronto, San Jose, Florida, Carolina, Detroit, Buffalo, and Anaheim, this will be the eighth NHL jersey that Reimer has officially thrown on in his well-travelled career. He actually had two different stints in San Jose and also tried to return to Toronto back in the fall but didn't get a contract.
“I went to Toronto in case there was a need there, and it turned out there wasn’t something that would work out for both sides,” Reimer told the media this week. “But it was a good opportunity to go get some reps and work out.”
After that, Reimer went back home and kept his conditioning up by skating with some BCHL junior clubs.
Over the holidays, Reimer got an opportunity to play for Team Canada at the Spengler Cup, getting into two games. However, when the quarterfinals rolled around, Canada opted to go with former Carleton Place Canadian Connor Hughes.
Not long after he got home, opportunity knocked in Ottawa, which has a good young team but has struggled mightily in goal, especially since Linus Ullmark stepped away on a leave of absence over the holidays. So the 37-year-old signed a one-year contract with the Senators on Monday worth an AAV of $850,000. TSN's Darren Dreger reported yesterday that there's a chance Ullmark could be back as early as next week.
Since they played on Tuesday night, the Senators didn't skate on Wednesday morning, so we don't have any game day info yet from head coach Travis Green. But he seemed quite content with his club's performance versus the Canucks, so he's probably not going to change much against the Rangers, who've lost four in a row, including a 10-2 loss to Boston on Saturday.
The main question will be whether Green wants to push young Merilainen into a back-to-back or go with a rusty 37-year-old who just got here and hasn't played in nine months.
The latter option is certainly a much better storyline, especially since Ottawa's starter will be facing Jonathan Quick on Wednesday. If it's Reimer, this will go down as one of the oldest goalie matchups in Sens history because Quick is the league's oldest goalie at 39, and turns 40 next week. Reimer is now the third oldest at 37, while former Senator Cam Talbot stands second at 38.
The old-timers' meeting begins at 7:30 pm at MSG.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa
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