Original pick: Nick Foligno
The Senators were coming off of a first place finish in 2006, although they lost early on in the second round of the playoffs. Their goaltending tandem of Ray Emery and Martin Gerber was good, but not great, with their key to success being the three-headed monster of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, and Jason Spezza.
The Ottawa Senators got great value with Nick Foligno at 28th overall, but he hasn’t fallen that far in the re-draft. No matter, they would still find great value here by picking a goalie that was drafted in the fourth round and dragged the Leafs to the playoffs in 2013.
Once the Senators wasted Dany Heatley’s 50 in 07 campaign by losing in the Cup Finals, their trio began to split up and their goalie situation resembled a game of musical chairs.
To start, Gerber supplanted Emery as the starter after 2007, then Alex Auld and Brian Elliott re-emerged as the new tandem. Elliott became the full time starter for two seasons before Craig Anderson took over while the Sens traded away Ben Bishop before he could take the starting job.
Someone who is very familiar with goaltending carousels, and someone who has never once complained about it, is James Reimer. He has had to compete for a starting job against the likes of JS Giguere, Ben Scrivens, Jonas Gustavsson, and Jonathan Bernier.
Had the Senators picked Reimer, there’s no telling what they would’ve done with him, but at the very least, he could’ve easily outperformed Gerber and Auld. And even if he just rode coattails during Elliott and Anderson’s tenures, he would still rise to the occasion when called upon.
Reimer as a backup option also would’ve been much better than Robin Lehner, or Andrew Hammond who proved to just be a more successful version of J.S. Aubin. It’s easy to see why Reimer’s such an undervalued goalie, considering his humble beginnings, but he has proven to be more successful than a lot of goalies in the 2006 class.
Next: 29. Phoenix Coyotes