James Reimer is enjoying life in the NHL.
Two months ago, it wasn’t a guarantee that he could ever say that again.
Before signing with Ottawa as a free agent on Jan. 12, the soon-to-be 38-year-old Reimer was back home in Kelowna, practicing with two junior teams and working out on his own in hopes of finding the right fit, a team in the NHL that needed his services.
His summer goaltending coach, Lyle Mast, works with the goaltenders of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks during the hockey season. He worked with Mast, goaltending consultant Adam Francilia, and also skated with the West Kelowna Warriors and Vernon Vipers of the BCHL, British Columbia’s Junior A loop.
He said he’s very grateful for the coaches of all of those teams for being so accommodating during the first half of the season. “I felt like I really stayed in it as best I could with what I had available,” said Reimer.
Along with the junior teams, he had a couple of friends, ‘Cal’ and ‘Patty’, who were always game to help him get back to game shape. ‘Patty’ is former Senators defenceman Patrick Wiercioch.
“[Wiercioch] is obviously done playing, and both those guys were awesome, I’d rent some ice and they always made themselves available to help me out, so I had a lot of people that helped me stay ready,” said Reimer. “I felt like I still had a good support system around me.”
With the Olympic break coming just over three weeks after Reimer left British Columbia to join the Sens, his first trip to Ontario was short-lived. He returned home to Kelowna to continue working on his game during the pause.
“I think what [was] nice about this break is you got some time to work on some things that maybe you couldn’t’ve leading up to it,” said Reimer. “I think [the week of practices afterwards] really did give an opportunity to shore up any of the little areas where you felt you needed to improve.”
Back in Ottawa again, that work is now done with a new crew, goaltending coach Justin Peters and Senators starter Linus Ullmark. “You’re hard pressed to find a goalie that you don’t get along with, and same with a goalie coach,” he laughed.
“Both Ully and Petey have been great to work with. I like the way Petey sees the game and his demeanor, and even just his work ethic. He always has a plan every day and he’s serious about his goalies and wanting his goalies to be in the best place possible to help the team and whatnot. He really cares about us as humans, first and foremost, but about our games. It’s really nice to have a coach that’s invested and cares so much.
“And Ully’s been great, the way he plays the game and the way he stops pucks is really impressive. And obviously he has a good heart, so it’s been really fun to get to know him and watch him play.”
With Ottawa, Reimer has been what the team needed. He hasn’t been exceptionally busy — the Senators allow the second fewest number of shots in the NHL — but his goals-against average of 2.90 is more than adequate in a league where that would rank 11th amongst all teams.
It’s also a testament to Reimer’s dedication that he’s even in this position at all. He’s the third-oldest goaltender in the league, and earlier this season, there were moments when he wasn’t sure if he’d ever play another game in the NHL.
“There’s a lot of times when you're excited and you believe that something's going to happen. Then there’s days when you're a little down and you don’t know if maybe you’ve played your last game,” said Reimer after he joined the Sens.
Reimer hasn’t made a start since NHL play resumed after the break — Ullmark has played to a 2-0-2 record, and the Sens haven’t had a back-to-back — but the veteran netminder has plenty to enjoy about their current western road trip.
His wife, April, is from Vancouver, and still has family there. Originally from Manitoba, Reimer also has family out west.
“It’s great, it’s not ideal necessarily family-wise [in Ottawa], so it is nice to be going back out west just to see my wife and my kiddos. That’s definitely one plus to going back out west,” said Reimer.
“The western road swing is always a whole lot of fun, because you get to see siblings, and parents, and in-laws, and whatnot. That’s the biggest plus for me, for my whole career, is just more family time.”
