Jonathan Bernier Deserves One More Chance

 

By Alex Hobson

I can almost guarantee that if you're the typical Leafs fan that watched the majority of their games last season, then you're thinking "You're an idiot. Trade him as soon as you can". I know you're thinking that because that was what almost every Leaf fan was thinking last season. But hear me out.

If you don't already know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about the 2015-16 scapegoat in Jonathan Bernier. 

LAST SEASON

Bernier was known for his absolutely abysmal performance to start the season last year. He had the worst start of his career by far, posting a record of 0-8-3 and didn't get his first win until December 19th against the Los Angeles Kings, his former season. Meanwhile, fellow goaltender James Reimer was experiencing the best start of his career, in which he was leading the league in save percentage for a while. Bernier ended up getting injured, which saw prospect Garret Sparks earn a callup, and then go on to record a shutout in his first game. This led all fans to believe that Sparks and Reimer was the tandem to go with, and that Bernier needed to be shipped as far away as possible.

He eventually did so bad that he was assigned to the Toronto Marlies on a ten day conditioning stint to clean up his act and fix his mental stability. After he joined the team again, his play slowly, but steadily improved. He began to look like himself again, and finally recorded his first win, a shutout, against the Los Angeles Kings on December 19th. Eventually, his play was back to normal. Not great (but really was anyone on the team doing great at that point?), but better than he was at the start.

On February 26th, James Reimer was traded to the San Jose Sharks, which left Bernier and Sparks manning the crease. Bernier realized that now was his time to prove that he could play better than he did at the beginning of the year, and he did just that.

By the end of season, Bernier had played 11 games since the deadline in which he posted a record of 5-6-0 with a GAA of 2.36 and a save percentage of .925, which are very respectable numbers for a goalie backstopping a team who's team was filled with a mix between rookies and underperforming veterans.

A LOOK AT SOME STATS

By now, you're probably thinking "yeah, so he finished the season decently. So what? He's still a terrible goalie". And to that I say no, he had a terrible start. Let's take a look at Bernier's stats in the two seasons before this one.

2013-14: 26-19-7, 2.68 GAA, .923 save percentage

2014-15: 21-28-7, 2.87 GAA, .912 save percentage

He had a good 2013-14 season, and an average 2014-15 season. Bernier's only really neccessarily bad season was this year, and the majority of it came at the start.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT NEXT SEASON?

As of now, next season's Leafs team is already looking miles better than last year's. Not only will our top prospects who have already shown that they can play such as William Nylander, Nikita Soshnikov, Zach Hyman, and Connor Carrick likely be full timers, but top prospect Mitch Marner and presumed first overall pick Auston Matthews will also likely become Leafs come fall. Throw in the possibility of Steven Stamkos coming home and youngsters like Nazem Kadri and Morgan Rielly stepping into bigger roles, and you've got yourself a Leafs team that will be much more competitive than last year's.

Here is Bernier's fate. He's currently in the final season of a two year contract, and assuming Shanny and Co. don't go out in free agency and sign a goalie who is equal or better than Bernier, he will have the crease to himself, likely with Garret Sparks backing him up. He seems to do better when there isn't somebody challenging him, so this is how it works.

If Bernier redeems himself and plays like he did two years ago with a better team in front of him and the net to himself, then he could re sign to a short term deal until either one of our goaltender prospects in Sparks, Antoine Bibeau, Kasimir Kaskisuo, or somebody in the draft develops, or if we trade for or sign somebody else. However, if he repeats last season, then he's gone. There will be no reason to keep him around if he plays like he did last season.

The point to be taken from this article is that Bernier deserves one more chance. Fans are already calling for his head, but he's proven he can be a reliable starter in the past, and it's entirely possible he repeats that this upcoming season. Leafs fans should give him one more chance to redeem himself and support him along the way.

Thanks for reading.