I could see it, I said for months that that this team is better than both Ottawa and Detroit with a chance to pass Buffalo, although I don't think think they pass buffalo but I REALLY don't believe in Lehner.
The fact is this division, beyond TB and the the Panthers, is garbage and even TB and the Panthers have some holes now with TB needing to move money to sign Kucherov
the panthers having some early injury issues with Ekblad Luongo and Bjugstad all out with injuries
Then you look at the rest of the division
Toronto who is young, fast and now extremely skilled with Mathews Marner Nylander JVR Komarov and Kadri up front
They have building blocks on the back end in Reilly and Gardiner and
They have with I feel is their best goaltending tandem in a decade with Andersen and Enroth
I feel people are going to under estimate this tesm and I think they will shock some people
Buffalo Much like the Leafs the sabres are talented up front, have some building blocks on D but unlike Toronto they don't have a guy that can carry the load Lehner isn't that guy and he's never going to be that guy if Buffslo wants to take the next step they NEED to be in on Bishop the moment he hits the market if they land him, look out but right now their goaltending simply isn't strong enough.
Boston the D is brutal and forward core, at least the main ones is getting older Bergeron is 31 Krejci is 30 Backes is 32 Marchand is 28 so be basso e game left it there is nothing coming in the prospect pool that can replace cakes Krejci and Bergeron in 2 or3 years when they need to be replaced.
Boston is likely better than us but that lasts 1 year MAX
Detroit also has a brutal D but unlike Boston Detroit has some younger pieces to build around they have Tatar. Nyquist Larkin Marazek they do have some pieces what they don't have is a stud young d man, I think their streak ends this year but I think the retool is a quick one.
Ottawa Simply has no depth and the reason for that is because they can't afford depth because their owner is cheap and doesn't allow them to spend to the cap so when you lose guys like C ac and Lazar you can't really replace them and unless Melnyk opens the Wallet and let's Ottawa become a cap yea. They won't be able to compete because one thing ALL the other teams in the division have in common they have the ability to spend to the cap.
Ottawa doesn't and unless that changes they aren't going anywhere.
Montreal, they are a goalie, they go as far as Price takes the if he goes down they are screwed because they have NOTHING behind him
Point is this,it doesn't matter who it is in this division everybody has holes, to say the Leafs can't compete when the division is in the state it's in would be asinine, you can't say that there are to many holes on each team and not small fixable ones either but giant gaping, creator size holes
This division is up for grabs and while I will stick to my official prediction of 6th place ahead of Ottawa and Detroit it wouldn't shock me to see us finish higher.
