Playing .500 means little to me. If they are .500 and getting severely outchanced every night like the Leafs of 2 seasons ago but are being carried by unsustainably hot goaltending and good fortune then I really couldn't care less about the record because it will only crash down at some point.
What I want to see is them start to play as a cohesive unit on a consistent basis, buy into some sort of system and not get pushed around by the elite teams of the west.
I want to see the young guys commit to a 200 ft game, the defensemen to be positionally sound and for the goalies to make a big save every now and then.
I want to see them look like a real NHL team, not a team that plays a disjointed game and relies solely on other teams to commit mistakes for them to get any scoring chances.
I want to see them dominate the puck and take it to the other team and be the ones dictating the pace more consistently. We have seen flashes of this but mostly from the 4th line, the other lines need to buy in and the defensemen need to cut down on those junior level breakdowns that wind up sinking team confidence.
The bottom line is that having a decent record is one thing but looking the part on the ice is quite another.