I suppose. But again, I think they have the cap space to get Reimer signed for a year or two and then either trade Pavelec with salary retained eventually or even buy him out next off-season.
Pavelec has struggled badly with consistency. He can be really good one day and completely bad the other. If they did get Reimer in the fold, they have someone they can fall back to if Pavelec keeps sucking.
I would take Pavelec at back around 2M or so if they rally wanted to dump him back to us in exchange for Reimer and a pick or two though. I think he would be a good insurance policy if Bernier gets injured again or if struggles himself here or there, which is possible. At that price, Pavelec wouldn't be a bad #1b or even backup. But like you said, I'm not sure if Reimer can be that much better then Pavelec at the end of the day...
Like I said earlier, I fully expect Reimer to be re-signed for a year.