Florida Panthers sign James Reimer to five-year, $17M deal
The Florida Panthers have signed goaltender James Reimer to a five-year contract worth $3.4 million per-year.
The decision to bring in Reimer should help the 37-year-old Roberto Luongo get added rest during the regular season and could enable the Panthers to shift to Reimer once Luongo decides to retire.
The 28-year-old Reimer played 40 games last season between the Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks. In 32 games with the Leafs he had a 2.49 goal-against average and .918 save percentage. In eight games with San Jose, Reimer held a 1.62 goal-against average and .938 save percentage.
Reimer led goaltenders who had played at least 1,500 5-on-5 minutes with a .9404 save percentage.
In 207 career NHL games, Reimer is 85-76-23 with a 2.83 goal-against average and .914 save percentage.
Luongo is under contract on a long-term deal that runs through 2021-22. Last season, Luongo finished fourth in Vezina Trophy voting and held a 2.35 goal-against average and .922 save percentage.
With Reimer in the mix, the Panthers currently have $59,283,332 dedicated to 43 contracts and $14,666,668 of salary cap space. The team still needs to sign restricted free agent forward Vincent Trocheck to a contract.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper