Rangers place James Reimer on waivers for purpose of contract termination

When Joonas Korpisalo was activated off injured reserve Friday, that spelled the end of James Reimer’s time in the NHL.  He passed through regular waivers unclaimed yesterday and was sent to AHL Hartford.  However, it doesn’t appear as if Reimer wants to go back there.  Instead, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Reimer is back on waivers once more, this time for the purpose of terminating his contract.

Reimer started the season without a contract but once Igor Shesterkin suffered an early season-ending injury, the New York Rangers came calling.  He accepted an AHL PTO deal to allow him to get back into playing shape and see if he could be a stopgap option in New York.  He made one appearance for the Wolf Pack, a 35-save shutout, which was enough to earn him a rest-of-season contract for the prorated league minimum salary of $850K.

The 38-year-old made one appearance with the Rangers and it wasn’t a particularly good one.  He got the start on Oct. 26 against Los Angeles and allowed three goals on eight shots in one period of action before being pulled.  Since then, Dylan Garand has exclusively played and now with Korpisalo back, there was no need to keep Reimer around on the roster.  While Reimer could have reported to Hartford to stay in game shape and be ready should another injury arise, he instead appears to be taking the understandable decision to just exit the contract.

Given that he just cleared waivers two days ago, it’s fair to say there’s a very good chance he’ll do so again this time before Sunday’s 1 p.m. CT deadline.  Assuming that is the case, New York will clear a contract slot, bringing them back down to 48 out of the maximum of 50.

Barring an unexpected claim, this could wind up being the end of the road for Reimer’s playing days, unless a similar injury situation arises elsewhere over the coming weeks or months.  Reimer, a 2006 fourth-round pick by Toronto, has now seen action in parts of 17 NHL seasons with nine different organizations.  He has made 540 career appearances at the top level, posting a 2.88 GAA with a .909 SV% and 32 shutouts along the way.  If it is indeed the end of his NHL playing days, he certainly has had a solid run overall.