James Reimer Signs With Rangers, and the Stolarz Trade Talk Cools

James Reimer signs with the Rangers at 38

The New York Rangers signed James Reimer to a one-year, $850,000 contract on Oct. 25, bringing the former Maple Leafs goalie back to the NHL at 38. The move fills a crease emptied by injuries: Igor Shesterkin is out for the season with a right knee injury, and backup Joonas Korpisalo is sidelined with a lower-body injury. Reimer is expected to back up 24-year-old Dylan Garand, who has carried the load since Shesterkin went down.

The James Reimer signing matters in Toronto for two reasons. He is a Leafs draft pick who spent his first six NHL seasons in blue and white and was in Toronto's camp on a tryout only a year ago. And the Rangers are the team TSN's Darren Dreger said had "kicked tires" on Anthony Stolarz earlier this month. A minimum-salary veteran is not the same as a trade, but it tells you where New York's search has landed for now.

LeafsLurker's take: this is good news for Toronto. It lowers the temperature on the Stolarz rumours at the exact moment Stolarz is playing his way into a bigger role.

How the Rangers got here

Shesterkin was hurt in the second period of a 3-1 loss in Washington on Oct. 9, when his right skate jammed into the post as he slid back into his crease, and the Rangers announced the next day he would miss the rest of the season. New York has leaned on Garand and Spencer Martin since. Garand has played well enough to buy general manager Chris Drury time, which is part of why Dreger described New York's search as thorough but not desperate.

Reimer's route back was the scenic one. He signed a professional tryout with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Rangers' AHL affiliate, on Oct. 15, and made 35 saves in a 2-0 win over Providence on Oct. 23 in his only start there, according to reports of the signing. Two days later he had an NHL contract.

James Reimer's Maple Leafs history

Toronto drafted Reimer in the fourth round, 99th overall, in 2006 out of the Western Hockey League's Red Deer Rebels. He made his Leafs debut in 2010-11 and quickly became a fan favourite, the "Optimus Reim" years that included the 2013 playoff run against Boston. Toronto traded him to the San Jose Sharks in February 2016.

He has moved around since, with stops that include Florida, Carolina, San Jose, Detroit, Buffalo and Ottawa. Across 539 regular-season NHL games he has a 2.87 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.

The Leafs connection did not end with the trade. Toronto signed Reimer to a professional tryout on Sept. 26, 2025, after Joseph Woll took a leave of absence for a personal matter, then released him before the 2025-26 opener. He landed in Ottawa, first on an AHL tryout and then on a one-way NHL deal worth $850,000 for the rest of the season. With the Senators he went 7-4-2 with a 2.42 goals-against average and an .886 save percentage in 14 games. His last NHL appearance came on April 15, 2026, and it came against Toronto: he stopped 19 of 20 shots in a 3-1 Ottawa win over the Leafs.

Why a 38-year-old on a minimum deal makes sense for New York

The contract is the point. At $850,000 for one year, Reimer costs the Rangers almost nothing against the cap and nothing in assets. Drury keeps his picks and prospects for a bigger move later, if one is needed, and gets a goalie with more than 500 NHL games who has played the backup role for most of the last decade.

The numbers from Ottawa last season were mixed. The .886 save percentage was well below his career mark, though his 2.42 goals-against average and winning record in 14 games show he can still give a team a chance on the second night of a back-to-back. That is the job here. The Rangers do not need Reimer to steal games. They need him to keep Garand from playing every night while a 24-year-old learns the starter's job.

What it means for the Anthony Stolarz trade talk

When Dreger first reported New York's interest on Oct. 14, the obvious logic was a team that had lost its starter calling about a reliable goalie on a moderate contract. We argued at the time that Toronto should say no unless the return was a young top-four defenceman, the one thing the Leafs actually need.

Signing Reimer does not formally end that conversation. A $850,000 veteran is depth, not a starter, and the Rangers could still go shopping if Garand cools off. But it makes a trade less likely in the short term. New York now has three healthy goalies in Garand, Martin and Reimer, and Korpisalo will eventually return. Drury has chosen to wait on Garand rather than pay for an upgrade, and paying Toronto's price for Stolarz would require a change of plan.

Stolarz's contract is also the kind that is easy to keep. He carries a $3.75 million cap hit through 2029-30 with a modified no-trade clause, according to our Leafs contracts page. That is good value for a goalie who can start.

Stolarz is making the decision easy

The timing works in Toronto's favour. Stolarz made 30 saves in the 7-2 win in Edmonton on Oct. 24, part of the four-game winning streak that has pushed the Leafs to 7-4-2. We made the case that he has earned more starts and that Jim Hiller should keep riding the hot hand alongside Sergei Bobrovsky.

Toronto's goalie depth is thinner than it looks. Joseph Woll was traded to Philadelphia in June, which leaves Bobrovsky and Stolarz as the NHL tandem. Bobrovsky is on a $7 million deal through 2028-29 and is not getting younger. Moving Stolarz without a proven replacement coming back would put a lot of weight on one goalie in his late 30s over an 82-game season.

The Leafs have more urgent problems on defence, where Chris Tanev, Marshall Rifai and Nick Blankenburg are all on injured reserve. If Stolarz is ever part of a trade, it should be the trade that fixes that. Until someone offers a young top-four defenceman, there is no reason to break up a tandem that is winning.

Could Reimer face the Leafs again?

Toronto already beat the Rangers 5-4 at Scotiabank Arena on Oct. 22, when Troy Stecher scored late. The teams meet again later in the season, and whether Reimer plays depends on Garand's form and Korpisalo's return. As a backup on a minimum deal, Reimer is a short-term patch, not a long-term answer.

There is a bigger point for the Rangers. Shesterkin's injury changed their season, and New York has chosen to bridge it cheaply rather than pay a premium. That leaves the Rangers one more injury in net away from going back to the trade market. If that happens, expect Stolarz's name to come up again.

What's next

Garand is expected to stay in the Rangers' starting role, with Reimer as his backup until Korpisalo is healthy. For Toronto, the road trip continues in Calgary on Oct. 26, then Seattle and Vancouver. Stolarz and Bobrovsky will split the work, and our Leafs players page has their full season numbers as the trip goes on.