Brian Burke clearly knows his own history as a GM, and one of the things that he had sought to do with the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect system was fill it to the brim with goaltending. After all, a lack of depth between the pipes is what killed him in Vancouver (Dan Cloutier, we laugh at thee), and the J.S. Giguere / Ilya Bryzgalov “problem” was the best thing he could’ve possibly had as a problem, with two starting goalies fighting for superiority, Giguere being the one to actually lead them to the promised land. The Leafs, with current roster players as well as prospects, are taking this same approach, perhaps even more aggressively.

On top of the aforementioned Giguere, sophomore Jonas Gustavsson is expected to continue to show strides as a young goalie. And if that wasn’t enough, the team signed Jussi Rynnas and Ben Scrivens, considered the two best unsigned goaltending prospects in the game at the time, a few months back. Add Marlies starter James Reimer to the mix, and this is a system that could have signed goalies of at least a whisper of prominence all the way down to the ECHL backup level.

The thing that makes this interesting though, is trying to figure out where these guys rank in the system. The NHL goaltenders are cemented, with Gustavsson and Giguere no doubt splitting time next year. However, one could argue that the other four goalies can literally be anywhere in the system come the start of next year, which is obviously a concern to Marlies fans everywhere, as one way or another, we’re going to be seeing a lot of two of them. Here’s my analysis.

James Reimer

Age: 22 (March 15th, 1988)
Where Was He Last Year: Starting goalie for the Toronto Marlies
Career Experience: Three years WHL (Red Deer Rebels) 2 partial years ECHL (Reading Royals, South Carolina Singrays), 2 Partial Years AHL (Toronto Marlies)
‘Boom’ Ranking: At max potential, Reimer is the 3rd best of the 4 goalies in question.

Should be in the AHL Because: The obvious – the fact that he’s the one with 2 years of experience here, albeit brief years (27 Games played total). He knows the show, and had very good numbers here last year – 2.25 with a 0.925 save percentage, and a 14-8-2 record on a non-playoff team is nothing to slouch at (one can argue if he wasn’t injured, they would’ve made it in).
Should be in the ECHL Because: Reimer has a history of being often injured, it seems, having not played more than 30 games since 2006-07 (30, 25, 30 respectively). It could be in the Marlies best interests to not rely on someone who can’t start half their games. As well, he’s thought to have a lower potential than Scrivens and Rynnas.

Jussi Rynnas

Age: 23 (May 22nd, 1987)
Where Was He Last Year: Starting goalie for Assat of the SM-liiga
Career Experience: 2 Years Jr. B (Assat), 3 Years Jr. A (Assat), 1 Year Finland2 (Sport, Kiekko-Vantaa, FPS), 1 Year SM-liiga (Assat)
‘Boom’ Ranking: At max potential, Rynnas is the best of the 4 goalies in question.

Should be in the AHL Because: Rynnas has played at the highest level of any of these goalies, playing in the very competitive SM-liiga (Finnish Elite League, a cut above the AHL but obviously not at NHL level). And he did spectactular there, too – leading the league in save percentage.
Should be in the ECHL Because: While he has played at one of the highest levels in the world, he still has no experience in the North American hockey system, something that all three of the other goalies do have. Not rushing may be a good thing.

Ben Scrivens

Age: 23 (September 11th, 1986)
Where Was He Last Year: Starting goalie for Cornell University
Career Experience: 2 Years in Junior-A (Alberta Junior Hockey League), 4 Years at Cornell University (NCAA)
‘Boom’ Ranking: At max potential, Rynnas is the 2nd best of the 4 goalies in question.

Should be in the AHL Because: The stats that Scrivens produced for the Big Red at Cornell are absolutely jawdropping, having a save percentage over .930 for 3 straight years, and a GAA under 2.00 the last two. Also, the oldest of the four goalies.
Should be in the ECHL Because: Cornell also has a history of goalies having incredibly good stats. Yes, they’ve had a case of one of those goalies being one of the greatest to ever play the game (Ken Dryden), but they’ve also had many players dominate statistically then flop once they left the team. A historically defensive system has lead to major boosts in goaltending statistics at the school. This considered, now that he’ll be breaking out of the system, a lower level of competition probably makes sense.

The Rankings

One already knows that none of these goalies will be playing backup in the East Coast Hockey League, at worst being a starter there. So that position is gone. But what about after that?

Marlies Starter – Leading the way between the pipes at Ricoh should be none other than James Reimer. He by no means deserves to lose his role with the team, considering the more than decent partial year he had this past season. Now, injuries are a concern, but that’s why we’re going to assume a 1A/1B system for the Marlies, with Reimer being 1A. The 1B? None other than.

Marlies Backup – This spot goes to the Finnish Giant, Jussi Rynnas. Between him and Scrivens (our Royals Starter), the main gap is experience. Rynnas has played against this level of talent before, and not under a shielded system either, where as Scrivens still has to prove himself at the professional level without a wall in front of him. While playing more games and subsequently starting for the Royals could be better for Rynnas, the fact that you can count on Reimer to have an odd injury definitely means the most competent person possible must be behind him. Always better to have two starters than a starter and a back up, you know?

But that’s just my opinion. For all you know, we could see something entirely different, possibly not even with these goalies. Reimer could be gone, Burke could go insane and trade for Chicago Blackhawks 5.65 million dollar albatross backup goalie Cristobal Huet to bury him in the minors, the future is unpredictable. Assuming we stay the course with these three goalies, its going to be an extremely interesting team to see next year between the pipes.