Leafs GM won't 'rule out' James Reimer returning to Toronto next season

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer, one of many scapegoats for the club's epic collapse down the stretch this past season, is on the trade block and is expected to be moved this offseason. 

Despite those expectations, Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis wouldn't close the door on the Reimer-era entirely while speaking with reporters in Philadelphia, Pa. on Thursday. 

"[A trade] is a possibility," Nonis said of Reimer, per Pro Hockey Talk. "The other possibility is to come here and try to start here. … I wouldn’t rule out him coming back."

Though Reimer has posted above average numbers as an everyday starter in the NHL in the recent past, even leading the Maple Leafs to their first postseason berth in nearly a decade during the lockout abbreviated 2013 campaign, he fell out of favor this past season in Toronto. Surely if Reimer breaks camp with the Maple Leafs this fall, it won't be as a starting netminder, a job that has clearly already been won by Jonathan Bernier.

That isn't a situation that's likely to please Reimer, a pending restricted free agent. Also, if the Maple Leafs bring Reimer back next season, then where exactly does Martin Brodeur fit in?