Randy Carlyle threw more heat on the "Randy Carlyle is a moron" pyre when he admitted to the world the following:

"I have a theory on concussions," he said. "I think the reason there’s so much more of them — obviously the impact and the size of the equipment and the size of the player — but there’s another factor: everyone wears helmets, and under your skull when you have a helmet on, there’s a heat issue. Everyone sweats a lot more, the brain swells. The brain is closer to the skull. Think about it. Does it make sense? Common sense?" said Carlyle, who said he’d never talked to a doctor about his premise, which he was introduced to by Jim Pappin, the former Leaf who also played his career helmet free.

If that's not the dumbest thing you've read all month, I suggest you read better material. If I hear one more person tell me that I need to "respect" Randy Carlyle because of his cup win, I'll be pointing to these Jenny McCarthy style pseudoscience comments that show no ability to make an informed decision. Randy Carlyle is one step away from putting pyramids under the benches.

Never mind improved detection rates - Carlyle is, in fact, scared of calling head injuries a "concussion" - helmets are the cause of (or exacerbating) brain injury. Never mind asking an informed source about the theory - it's easily debunked - but since it sounds good (like "Common Sense" to Carlyle), he'll roll with it.

Closer to the truth is that Randy Carlyle may be the best living proof that playing hockey without a helmet leads to impaired thought processes. Dr. Carlyle and Dr. Recchi should open a practice - as long as it's not the Leafs' practice. If this theory impacts Carlyle's handling of players and their return from injury, management should have him removed immediately (I mean, that's true for lots of reasons, but if he has ever circumvented or vetted Leafs doctors based on this theory, franchise assets are at risk).

As Leafs fans, we should be horrified that Carlyle basically admitted "I don't have any reason to believe this, but I like it so I do." It's pretty obvious that he brings the same "thought process" to the Leafs lineup, as he dresses useless fighters night in and night out, while scratching talent. Speaking of which, tonight Frattin is scratched, Colborne will center the fourth line, and Bozak will probably play 19+ minutes. Gardiner draws back in, but there are no points for finding the obvious.

Leafs play the Devils at 7PM tonight. Your links for this weekend:

Wild Optimism - The Copper & Blue
I was going to lead with this until Carlyle's comments blew me away. A must read, as the first graph is a great example why underlying numbers and shot differential matter - the Leafs are going to join a very exclusive club this year.

Toronto Trade Deadline: Did Dave Nonis Do Enough? | The Hockey Writers
No. See above.

MDZ Elbows James Neal

Haven't seen an update on Neal, but there's video of the hit here.

Evander Kane chucks a helmet, and hockey’s other great moments in throwing stuff | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports

Evander Kane throws a brain incubator.

Watch bench-clearing brawl in Austrian youth cup final (Video) | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports

U15 cup with a bench clearing brawl.

From The Branches