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If there's one thing Randy Carlyle can do well, it's burn toast. If there's one thing that he can't do well, it's not deflect blame onto goaltenders. A spat between the coach, the goalie, and the goalie's agent on Twitter last week ended with rumors that James Reimer would be requesting a trade out of Toronto at the end of the season.
Tonight's competition
Tonight's competition
The most recent under-the-bus throwing ended with this tweet from Reimer's wife:
Don't mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance or my kindness as weakness #goaliewifeproblems
— April Reimer (@april_reimer) March 23, 2014
Considering the situation at hand, that seems pretty zen. Reimer is the de facto starter right now until Jonathan Bernier comes back from injury. This means that he's shouldering the brunt of the blame for a disastrous five game stretch in which they've not earned a point and have been slowly killing their own playoff hopes in a weird attempt at hari kari that is driving Maple Leafs fans insane. The Leafs have allowed five goals once and four goals twice in that stretch, and have exhibited some atrocious defensive play in front of their netminder.
But hey, how about that David Clarkson contract, eh?
This is your morning open thread. Check back later on for a CCR preview, your GDT, and a RBR recap barring internet disaster. While you're killing time, please to be checking out our good friends at Pension Plan Puppets. They're having a rough go of it recently, and I'm sure would love to hear some words of encouragement from fans of the Western Conference's best team.