The 4 teams are better, but so are the Leafs. You are choosing to take a negative view on the Leafs, which is your prerogative. But don't think you're right just because you say so. The reality check may have to be taken by you. This is a great team, top 5 in the league, and will remain that way as long as Andersen is healthy. Our PK wasn't that good with Hainsey, so from what I've seen, the people putting in the minutes thus far are doing a very good job. This team will be battling more for the division lead than a wildcard spot. That, imo, will be the reality.
I think it's debatable as to how much better we are compared to last season. Is Barrie an upgrade over Gardiner?
Yes. Slightly. He likes to create play with his own entries, Gardiner is more of an excellent first pass. Both have issues defensively.
Is Ceci better than Zaitsev? Sure. Eye tests shows he still has issues and will likely be leaned on heavily with lots of minutes so I expect to see lots of mistakes made due to lots of ice time. But I would call him a slight upgrade over Zaitsev.
Is Kerfoot better than Kadri? I'd say as a player. No. On the Leafs in the 3c role? They will/should put up similar numbers. So that's just a cheaper option for the same output.
Now as far as B line forwards, Browns and Ennis's being replaced by Moore and Mikheyev. I would call that a large upgrade. But they won't be and shouldn't be playing large minutes because I would expect Babs to put more lean on Matthews and Tavare's line. So their impact won't be all that much or as much as you would expect.
However we lost Hainsey who was our best defender at the PK. We didn't get a replacement for Hainsey.
We lost Lindholm who also killed penalties. We are replacing him with the Goat and asking Spezza to play a role he's never played much before. So those are both downgrades.
Are we better?
Slightly. But it's debatable. It boils down to our specialty units which the PP has looked decent. Improved over last year. But I'd remind you that this time last year our PP looked like a cheat code, it was so good. It eventually became a predictable mess. It could very well become that again if they decide they need to keep trying to set up the Matthews one timer.
Our PK has questions. We lost key penalty killers. We will see how those now in that role adapt.