TORONTO — After peeling off his mask, already decorated with a fresh blue and white paint job, and doffing his new No. 47 sweater (word to Leo Komarov), James Reimer would not quit smiling when chatting about his first skate with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 3,504 days.
“I haven’t had that that much fun in a long time,” Reimer beamed outside of his original NHL club’s practice facility Saturday afternoon. “I figured it’d be special.
“A lot of memories, and a lot of good emotions.”
Upon learning that goaltender Joseph Woll required an indefinite leave of absence to attend to a family matter, Leafs GM Brad Treliving reached out to Reimer’s agent, Ray Petkau.
Treliving asked if the 37-year-old veteran would consider trying out for the team that drafted him back in 2006 — when Reimer’s breakfast mate on this morning, Easton Cowan, was one year old.
A free agent who had been waived by rebuilding Buffalo, waived by rebuilding Anaheim, then left unsigned this past spring, Reimer was hanging out with friends in Kelowna, B.C., when he got the call.
The Maple Leafs want you back.
Not wanting to call it a career, Reimer’s whole family got excited, but they couldn’t share their joy for a couple days until the recruitment was official.
Now, Reimer is back with the first team that believed in him. Like nothing has changed. Even if the staff and entire roster, save Morgan Rielly, has.
“Same old Jimmy with a big smile on his face. So, I’m happy for him,” said reunited teammate Steven Lorentz, who broke into the show when Reimer tended goal for the Carolina Hurricanes.
“When he’s playing well, he wants the boys to be playing well. And when things aren’t going so great, he’s hard on himself — and he doesn’t point fingers.
“Before my first NHL game… when I hit all the nerves going through me, he said, ‘You know what, kid? You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t belong. So just go enjoy it. Take a breath of fresh air.’ And that really calmed me down. I’ll never forget that advice from him.”
The way last season ended — flipping from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back before getting stuck at the bottom of UFA lists — Reimer says he had reached peace with his 525-game, 15-year, seven-team career.
Not too shabby for a fourth-rounder.
“I have a lot of contentment with what I’ve done so far,” he said. “Having said that, I took time after the season to feel it out and see if I wanted to keep playing or not. And it became pretty clear early in the summer that I still love the game, and I still love to compete.
“I just ran with that feeling. I was going to prepare myself. And if the right opportunity came, I was going to get ready to seize it.”
The Manitoba native trained regularly, as usual, with a group based in Kelowna, his summer home.
With Treliving keeping a close eye on how Reimer handled odd-man rushes and net-front pressure during Saturday’s up-tempo practice, the goaltender didn’t look at all out of place.
That said, coach Craig Berube cautioned that solo training is no equivalent to pro camp. (The Leafs remain undecided if Reimer will appear in one of next week’s final two pre-season matches versus the Red Wings, another former team of his.)
Treliving’s PTOs are generally just precursors to a contract (see: Noah Gregor, Max Pacioretty and Lorentz). But Reimer is putting pressure on himself to show well in the last week of camp.
“One thing that stood to me is just the level of compete. You know, I’ve been around a lot of teams, and every team does something different. A lot of the really good teams I’ve been a part of, that’s the feel that I have today. There’s a high standard of excellence.”
Ignore the fact that Reimer has “a little more grey in my beard,” and you wouldn’t realize from his casual, friendly meetings with teammates and reporters that nine-and-a-half years have whizzed by.
“I don’t know if you get any smarter as you get older. But your perception changes. You have a little different view of things. And so, I’m still just trying to enjoy everything that the Lord has gifted upon me,” said Reimer, a devout Christian.
“I’ve been really blessed to be in this league for a long time, and you don’t take it for granted.”
Reimer’s back — and happier than ever.
“It’s the greatest game on Earth, and in the greatest city to play the game,” he said.
“I got so many good memories. I’m sure there was some bad memories in there. I don’t remember any of them. I’m sure nobody else does either.”
Lorentz, you may recall, grew up as a card-carrying member of Leafs Nation during Prime Reimer and swears he knows all the nicknames: Optimus Reim, The Statue, The Reiminister of Defence, Busta Reim…
“It’s kind of crazy how it comes full circle for him like this,” Lorentz said.
“It was just good to see him in the blue and white again.”
One-Timers: David Kämpf and Bobby McMann missed practice due to maintenance…. With Auston Matthews preferring only two pre-season games, Nick Robertson joins top-line forwards Max Domi and Matthew Knies for Saturday’s game…. Simon Benoit (upper body) is still practising in a red no-contact sweater…. Calle Järnkrok wired a shot high over Anthony Stolarz’s net, smashing a pane of glass and triggering a storm of stick-taps from his teammates.
