The Toronto Maple Leafs have sent goaltender James Reimer back to the AHL's Toronto Marlies following a strong performance with the NHL club.
With Jonas Gustavsson now in the backup role and veteran J.S. Giguere ready to return from a groin injury, the Leafs needed to move one of their netminders.
And with Kris Versteeg and Fredrik Sjostrom injured, and Brown suspended three games for his hit to the head of Coyotes' Ed Jovanovski on Thursday night, the club needed another forward but didn't have roster space to call someone up without sending someone down.
In Reimer's case, he didn't need to clear waivers to go down.
"The only way we could get things done, and anticipating (Mike) Brown's suspension, we had to reassign James Reimer back to the Marlies," head coach Ron Wilson told Toronto radio station, AM 640. "We're bringing a player up to have a full lineup (Saturday) night. We had to do some moving."
Reimer, 22, went 4-2-0 with a 2.27 GAA and a .930 save percentage while with the Maple Leafs and he was in the blue paint for four straight wins prior to Thursday's loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.
The Maple Leafs also recalled forward Marcel Mueller from the Marlies. The 22-year-old has seven goals and 13 assists through 29 games in the minors this season.
A native of Berlin, Germany, Mueller represented his country at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver where he played four games and registered two assists and 12 penalty minutes.
