The Leafs have been shelled this season, allowing the fourth most shots per game, yet are still firmly in a playoff position, thanks in large part to their goaltending.

What began as a major question mark heading into the season has turned into the backbone of the team.

James Reimer and Ben Scrivens have led the Leafs to a .916 team save percentage, good for eighth best in the league. In recent years with the likes of Vesa Toskala and Andrew Raycroft, breaking .900 was a minor miracle. Now, the Leafs have received better goaltending than teams like Montreal, Vancouver, Nashville, and Los Angeles, teams with unquestioned No. 1 goaltenders.

But strong goaltending in Toronto hasn't stopped rumours from popping up over the last few days linking high-profile veteran goalies to the Leafs. Roberto Luongo, currently sitting on the bench in Vancouver, is once again being talked about, apparently. But the new rumour de jour—one that makes even less sense—claims the Leafs are talking to Calgary about bringing Miikka Kiprusoff to Toronto.

The Toronto Maple Leafs recalled Nazem Kadri from the Toronto Marlies on Tuesday, giving him his second stint with the big club in his rookie season. His first stint was necessitated by a nasty death spell that befell the Leafs where they were looking for anything to pull them out. It wasn't the ideal situation for Kadri. "Here, kid. It's no big deal. Just score a shit ton of goals, pull Kessel out of his slump, don't mess around in your own end, and, just for good measure, tell Komisarek to figure it out. Oh, and no pressure, but the weight of Leafs Nation rides on you."

Kadri didn't play very well and was mercifully sent back to the Marlies where he belongs at this stage of his career. But many people - including some misguided Leaf fans - think that because at this specific juncture in his career he belongs in the AHL it means that he will always belong in the AHL. These people have determined in less than 20 games that Nazem Kadri will amount to nothing.

I casually perused the TSN.ca message board accompanying the news story and was baffled by the ignorance. This is like shooting fish in a barrel, but it's better than another head-shots article.

Click to see that even NHLers find Pierre annoying.

I watched the Caps-Oilers on TSN because it was Wednesday night and there wasn’t anything on. Modern Family was a re-run, so I was stuck watching two teams I don’t really care about. But it’s hockey, so it’s still amazing. Plus, it’s always nice to see a team other than the Leafs get a good beat-down. For some reason I enjoy other teams’ misery. A lot.

The one problem is that this was on TSN. Whenever a game is on TSN there is a good chance that Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire are commenting. I don’t really have a problem with Gord Miller. He isn’t my favourite play-by-play guy, but he’s decent. Now Pierre McGuire is a different story.

There’s something about Pierre McGuire that people just find grating. This is unfortunate because he clearly knows a lot about hockey and has plenty of insight into the game. But when people are hoping that errant pucks go flying into your general area, it’s a pretty clear sign you aren’t well-liked.

What is it about Pierre McGuire that causes this reaction?

Message boards are a spawning ground for idiocy. There’s something about putting a bunch of anonymous people together in a virtual room that is conducive to general dumbassery.

I usual read TSN.ca and at the end of each article there is the chance for people to chime in with their two cents. Opinions are like assholes in the sense that everyone has one. And the TSN message boards have a lot of assholes with more opinions than they know what to do with.

The articles that generate the most responses are any that involve the Maple Leafs. People bemoan the amount of attention the Leafs get, but everyone loves talking about them. Both people who love the Leafs and those who absolutely despise the Leafs have something to say about the general state of Leafs Nation… always. By Sunday night there were 38 pages of responses to one Leafs game.

Reading these message boards are the worst after the Leafs put together a string of a few loses (or when they go 4-12-2 since their 4-0 start). During these times Leaf fans are usually very reactive and make stupid statements in their hyper-emotional state. Leaf Haters use this time to descend on the struggling club like a pack of wild hyenas.

Sometimes there are actual cogent thoughts that make a ton of sense, but you have to sift through mounds of garbage to find them.

Here are my responses to some of the beauties.

August 9, 1988 is a day that will live in infamy for Canadians. It marks the day that Oilers GM Peter Pocklington sold Canada’s favourite son, Wayne Gretzky. It was a trade that literally shook the nation to its core. If hockey is a religion in Canada (pretty much) then Wayne is Jesus. People sent death threats to Pocklington and he still hasn’t been forgiven 20 years later, especially by the residents of Edmonton. Poor Edmonton, the city Wayne practically founded, has spiralled into a meth and hooker binge that it has yet to recover from (or so To Serve and Protect would have me believe).

Kings Ransom is a documentary by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) investigating the development and culmination of the biggest trade in sports history. What other example can you think of a transcendental player being traded during his absolute prime (Wilt Chamberlain maybe)? It’s part of the ESPN series 30 for 30, which is a set of documentaries celebrating ESPN’s 30th year. These aren’t necessarily the 30 biggest sports stories of the past 30 years, rather, they are 30 stories that 30 prominent directors were compelled to make. This gives an interesting view on diverse and often obscure subjects such as the USFL, the death of Len Bias, and the advent of Rotisserie baseball (excessively excited to watch that one…seriously).