Advertisement

Hurricanes acquire Reimer from Panthers, who agree to buy out Darling

James Reimer is headed to Carolina. (Getty)
James Reimer is headed to Carolina. (Getty)

The Carolina Hurricanes have a fix for their Scott Darling problem.

Carolina dealt Darling to the Florida Panthers in exchange for netminder James Reimer, the two teams confirmed Sunday.

Florida will cover the costs to buy out the embattled Darling, and will receive a sixth-round pick for its troubles, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.

With two switching affiliations, the goaltending picture comes into clearer focus on the eve of free agency.

Trading Reimer helps the Panthers clear space to add the top free agent netminder on the market, and a player that has long been linked to South Florida, Sergei Bobrovsky. With Reimer now in the fold, it seems either Petr Mrazek or Curtis McElhinney - or both - will be on the move after combining to form an effective platoon last season.

Reimer has two years and $6.8 million remaining on his current contract. He had a terribly disappointing season last year in Florida, posting a .900 save percentage in 36 appearances in support of Roberto Luongo.

Darling appeared in just eight games for the Hurricanes in his second season on a four-year contract valued at nearly $17 million. Acquired from Chicago to be the fix in net, Darling was an .884 netminder in his limited action in 2018-19, and saw his overall (and now complete) record with Carolina drop to 15-25-9.

Here’s a closer look at the deal, via PuckPedia:

More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports