James Reimer injury update: Toronto Maple Leafs goalie can’t catch a break

If James Reimer, goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs, thought that his season couldn’t get much worse, he got a rude awakening on Thursday night. Just 32 seconds into his start against the Carolina Hurricanes, one of his own players trucked into him. Reimer tumbled to the ice in a heap, his helmet on the ice beside him as trainers rushed to his side.

The Toronto netminder was able to skate off of the ice under his own power, but Reimer has a history with concussions. You could forgive fans for fearing the worst for him.

It appears that he didn’t sustain a serious injury on the play though, and was just shaken up when Josh Leivo ran into him less than a minute into the hockey game. The Toronto Star is reporting that Reimer will be able to practice this morning, less than 24 hours after the incident. Per the Star’s report:

"‘He’s got a headache,’ Randy Carlyle said of Reimer. ‘He got hit. Basically we’d do the same thing with any player. It was a thigh or knee to the neck area and we just took him out of the game. There is a history there, so you have to worry about it.’Still, the worry didn’t preclude Carlyle from suggesting Reimer will be ready to return to the job as early as Friday morning."

"‘The feeling right now is Reimer will be able to practice (on Friday),’ Carlyle said."

That is great news for the Leafs. Despite the fact that Reimer has more or less been replaced as the No. 1 netminder in Toronto, he’s still an important part of the team moving forward.