I threw the below table together quickly from data in stats.hockeyanalysis.com. It's each team's "
2016-17 Goal & Point Totals From Forwards Only". Shot% is in there too and it's ranked by total points right now.
It's not 100% accurate because it's not separating players' performance for teams pre-deadline and post-deadline if they were traded, however glancing at those trades I didn't see any major transactions that would have substantially moved any team's needle. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on that.
My thoughts:
Holy crap Minnesota! Didn't realize their forwards were so offensively potent. The exchange of Pominville for Ennis & Foligno is a net loss in points but a net gain in goals. They were also riding the 4th highest shot % among forward groups in the league last year.
The next 4 teams seem expected (PIT, WSH, TOR, & EDM) but everyone other than Toronto has actually lost goal scoring and points. In PIT & WSH's cases it's actually a pretty significant amount. Only Toronto made a significant gain in their forward core with Marleau coming in and no other major trades or losses from their forward group. I also don't see Toronto as being particularly lucky given them having the 3rd lowest shot % among the Top 10 forward groups in the league. I also realize that this doesn't account for rookies that will come in and contribute for various teams but I'm not sure any of the Top 5 teams are expecting a rookie to come in and do 20-25 goals and 40-50 points.
So is Toronto guaranteed to have the best forward group in the NHL next year? No, because nothing is guaranteed. Do they look poised to have the best forward group based on how every team performed last year and what players they've added/substracted so far? Yes.
Ultimately, the idea of Toronto having the best forward group next year is not nearly as outlandish as many knee-jerkers made it seem in this thread.
In reality the craziest post about Toronto in this thread came from the guy who listed nearly 20 teams that could outscore the Leafs. All biases aside, the Leafs proved they're an upper echelon offensive team in the league last year and there's really nothing to indicate they'll massively drop in that aspect either in advanced metrics (shot percentages, scoring chance generation, etc) or in their personnel gains/losses in this off-season.