Fantasy Impact: The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired goaltender Jonathan Bernier from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for forward Matt Frattin and goaltender Ben Scrivens, as well as a draft pick.

The Kings get: A hustling third-line winger with the talent to step in as a second-line guy when needed. As well, in Scrivens the Kings have a true backup who was probably not going to move up to the No.1 job. Goalie contraversy = solved. In the case of both players, there still may be some untapped upside we have yet to see.

The Leafs get: one of the top young goaltenders in the world. That being said, James Reimer is 53-32-14 with a 0.915 save percentage in his career. I believe that Bernier is an upgrade to Reimer and probably a big one – but Reimer is a pretty good goalie who can be an NHL starter. Bernier is 29-20-6 with a 0.912 SV% so the numbers indicate that this is closer than we’d all like to think. But it was Bernier’s recent season that re-enforced the idea that he is potentially a top goaltender in the NHL. Potentially.

Fantasy Players Impacted: We all knew Bernier was going to a new team this summer. And we all knew that he would going there to become a starter. Ideally, he would have gone somewhere that was more ‘clear cut’, without a Reimer-type hovering over his shoulder. But Bernier is the new Golden Boy in Toronto and he will get all the starts he needs – and he won’t be giving up the nasty rebounds that Reimer tends to give up.

Reimer’s value takes a beating. A bad beating. He’s positionally sound and he recovers very well, but he struggles to keep possession of the puck when it hits him.

Frattin joins a team that is very deep up front. He tends to make a huge splash right when he needs to – whether that be his just being called up to the big club, coming off a healthy scratch…or just having been traded. So I expect a hot 10 games to start before he tails off and finishes with 45 points. But that assumes he can stay healthy, which has been an issue over the last two seasons (knee, ankle). In the long run, the new scenery will help.

Los Angeles starter Jonathan Quick, if there was any doubt, can now enjoy plsying 70 games. With Bernier around, that may have been cut to 60 or 62. 

Fantasy Players this helps, in order
1. Bernier

2. Quick 

3. Frattin

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order

1. Reimer

2. Scrivens