This and that from Leafsland

I know it’s only mid-October and the Toronto Maple Leafs have played only a small portion of the schedule, but if history means anything, than the Leafs are sitting pretty for a playoff spot.

Why do I sound so confident? Look at the standings and keep in mind what Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman wrote on his blog this morning: From the 2005-06 to 2011-12 season 3 of 32 teams 4 points out of a playoff spot by November 1st made the playoffs.

The Leafs are currently at 10 points atop the Eastern Conference and they have 8 games left this month (4 at home). With David Clarkson expected back before the end of the month, and Nik Kulemin a possible return by early November, the Leafs find themselves in good shape the rest of this month.

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Meantime, James Reimer starts tonight against Minnesota as Coach Randy Carlyle backs away from his “win and you are in” mantra and really we shouldn’t be surprised.

While Jonathan Bernier got the win Saturday over Edmonton, he looked shaky on a few goals. Reimer last played 10 days ago against Ottawa, and was pulled halfway through that game after allowing 4 goals on 21 shots.

Carlyle said going back to Reimer had a lot to do with schedule, and giving Bernier a break.

“You always try to balance things out, lines, defence,” said Carlyle. “You look at how they play, chances given up, and the number of games in a row. You don’t want people to get stale, so we make decisions on a number of factors.”

Given Carlyle’s history, both goalies will play at least 22 games this season.

Since Carlyle became an NHL head coach, the most games any of his goalies have played in a season is 60 (Jean –Sebastien Giguere played 60 games in Carlyle’s first NHL season with the Anaheim in 2005-06).

I would suspect Bernier will get the most starts this year based on the fact the Leafs traded to get him and then signed him to a 2-year deal.

But Carlyle isn’t kidding when he says you can never have enough goaltending.

Keep in mind when he coached the Ducks in 2008-09, Carlyle has Jonas Hiller and J.S. Giguere split the games – each played 46 that season.

“I’m pretty excited,” Reimer said about starting tonight. “No one likes to sit and not play so I’m excited to get back in. Just want to go out and give our guys a chance to win.”

“It’s a long season,” said Jonathan Bernier. “We can’t play every game so it’s going to be a rotation between me and Reims, that’s part of hockey.”

Bernier is 4-1 with a 1.74 GAA and a .946 save percentage and a big reason why at 5-1 the Leafs are off to their best start after 6 games in 20 years.