The Leafs are halfway through their season. I have compiled everything I learned from talk radio so far. For brevity’s sake I stopped at 75, precisely the number of goals Nazem Kadri is expected to score next season.

1. Nazem Kadri is too small to be a front-line NHLer.
2. Nazem Kadri has three goals in his first four games. He’s ready.
3. Nazem Kadri hasn’t scored in nine games. Told you he’s too small.
4. We should all name our baby boys Nazem Kadri.
5. The Leafs have to trade for Roberto Luongo.
6. Never ...

Carlyle’s obsessive line-matching is part of his bench persona.

Randy Carlyle would get up at first light, shower and get dressed.

Then he would get into his car and take the first road to nowhere.

There is no count on how many times Carlyle drove around Anaheim from November 30, 2011, the day he was fired as coach of the Ducks, to when he was hired by the Maple Leafs on March 2, a year Saturday,

The desolation of those drives has not left the 56-year-old Carlyle.

“I had my period of time I ...

By my math, this man will soon be a plus 71.

It’s not James van Riemsdyk’s offence, although a goal total that has now reached 11 bears savouring.

It’s not Nazem Kadri’s point production.

No, if you ask Maple Leafs GM Dave Nonis about the biggest surprise in an 11-7-0 season he will default to Mark Fraser.

“We felt he would be a seven or an eight who could give you the odd game,” Nonis said. “You talk about players earning their ice time; Mark has earned it. He makes sound decisions. He ...

The Marlies’ Drew MacIntyre is on his 13th team in nine years.

Doug Teskey.

Jimi St. John.

Scott Fankhouser.

Logan Koopmans.

Drew MacIntyre has backed up dozens of goalies. Many weren’t as well known as the netminders listed above.

At 29, the Charlottetown native is on his 13th pro team in just nine years. Lucky number 13 is the Toronto Marlies for whom MacIntyre has surrendered just two goals over as many games.

The Marlies signed MacIntyre last week when James Reimer sustained a knee injury that prompted the callup of Jussi Rynnas. Reimer has begun ...

James van Riemsdyk is inexperienced in the face-off circle but his installation at centre between Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul would help the Leafs.

Joffrey Lupul is midway through his projected six-week recovery from a broken arm. That means the question of who will man the Leafs top line will only grow in importance.

Those conversations need to centre on James van Riemsdyk, specifically moving him to the middle of the number-one unit upon Lupul’s return.

Aside from the excellent play of James Reimer the dominant conclusion of the early season is ...

It’s true. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

 Even if it’s gone short-term.

 Which brings us back to James Reimer, out for at least a week with a knee sprained in the Leafs 5-2 win over Philadelphia.

 ”Ah,” you say. “What if it’s longer?”

Even if Reimer’s injury keeps him out for months instead of weeks the Leafs will likely still sit on their hands.

 That would mean no deal for Roberto Luongo, no attempt to coax Tim Thomas out of his unfathomable retirement.

 Reimer’s knee provides a fine benchmark to examine how ...

If you think this is okay, you can’t really talk about facewashing protocol.

Okay, this is not an anti-fighting tirade.

This is a what happens when you allow fighting tirade.

This is about the code and by association the scrum that swept up Mikhail Grabovski and the Canadiens’ Max Pacioretty.

In case you haven’t heard, the league declined to suspend Grabovski for what Pacioretty said was a bite in a scrum Saturday night.

The facewash in hockey is as old as shin pads. Sometimes it’s penalized, sometimes it’s not but if you ticketed every ...

Honestly, what did this guy do to deserve this?

Goalless but nonetheless leading the NHL with 42 shots on net and 1.6 million directed somewhere around there, Phil Kessel has become a bigger story than the team he plays for.

I can’t stop watching Phil Kessel. I commiserate when he shuffles back to the Leafs bench after skating his guts out with no result. I count the shifts until he comes back.

Phil Kessel is absolutely riveting because he is doing everything a hockey player can do to manage what should come ...

Every member of the Toronto Marlies knows Mark Owuya will exhaust shooters even after a gruelling practice.

In the informal play that is the end of practice the Toronto Marlies resort to kids’ games.

Sometimes they cluster in a tight group. Then one player tosses a puck into the air. They squish tighter and wait to see whose helmeted head the puck will find.

Other times one player flicks a puck waist-high toward a teammate who tries to hit it with a baseball-style swing.

Usually they cluster around a net and rattle off ...

Behind The Draft lives behind the scenes.

The 30-minute special which airs Friday at 7 p.m. on Leafs TV is packed with candid never-before-seen moments from the 2012 draft in Pittsburgh that netted the Leafs heralded defenceman Morgan Rielly.

Current GM Dave Nonis chortles at the draft table while reading a tweet directed at Rielly by Leafs winger Joffrey Lupul: “Congrats Morgan Rielly on becoming a Maple Leaf. Look forward to playing w you. Now go get me some tape..#rookie.”

Behind the Draft chronicles  Morgan Rielly at the 2012 draft.

Director of amateur ...