The Canucks are still good, but they lost so many pieces so it's hard to tell. I know I'm biaised but I could see Montreal taking their spot, or Winnipeg.

Vancouver lost too many key players this offseason. Makes me feel uncomfortable putting them in the playoffs, let alone 1st in this division.

I feel like all these standing refuse to admit that on paper the Leafs actually have the best roster. They've been the best Canadian team in the regular season for the past few years (average not every year), I don't see them not winning a Canadian division. The Flames could challenge, and the Jets might make a push. But I don't see any of the other teams really contending for top spot.

I think it shakes out something like:
leafs,
canucks (serious wildcard but I have faith in demko),
oilers (even without klefbom they will be good...it’s called the mcdavid factor
jets (offence and goaltending are elite, defence is one peice/Samberg or heinola stepping into a top 4 role away from challenging for top spot)
Flames (lost Brodie but got markstrom...they are a team to watch)
Canadiens (wildcard. They improved in every facet of the game. I would rank them higher but idk why I didn’t. Just don’t believe in them tbh)
Sens (got better but not even close)

My point is that after the leafs, every team here has major question marks.
For the canucks: can demko and holtby prove to be a good tandem?
For the oilers: can they overcome losing klefbom (they couldn’t a couple of years ago) and can they continue to get average goaltending?
For the jets: can one of the kids make the d-code better or will chevy make an upgrade or will hellebuyck have to do the heavy lifting again in an elite offensive division (I ranked them at 4th because this is an easy fix that makes this team a contender for first in the division)?
For the flames: can markstrom live up to the starter role and can they overcome losing Brodie?
For the Canadiens: can the kids take the next step. Suzuki, danault, and kk are a good centre lineup but they lack a true 1c. I’m just not so sure about them. You need elite talent to get anywhere in the nhl and the Canadiens lack it. If they can bring in a guy like Hoffman, they immediately start comtemding for top spot. But as of now, I have them with the flames.
Sens: sorry but...lol

Your ranking the Leafs higher than the Habs is generous the Habs beat the Leafs all 3 times they met last season. We improved at every position and our top 9 is among the best in the league in terms of balance plus we have arguably one of the best goal tending tandems in the league the only real question mark is the LHD. Our lines going forward are likely

Drouin-Suzuki-Anderson
Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
Taffoli-Kotkaniemi-Armia
Lehkonen-Evans-Byron

Chiarot-Weber
Edmondson-Petry
Romanov-Mete
Kulak

IF and I know this is a BIG IF Romanov comes out of camp on the 1st pairing we won't have any holes in the lineup. I don't think the Leafs can say that at all. I would also bet money on the Habs finishing in the top 5 in the league depending on how that LD sorts out.

Lol i think ur forgetting that the Leafs had like a 13 game win streak (I might be wrong) against the Habs before the last game of the 2018/2019 season. I think Habs arent close to the Leafs level, and Habs are still a hopeful team to make the playoffs, a lot of people wouldnt be suprised if they didnt make the playoffs. Lets not forget they were 24th in the league when the season ended, and traded away a former 70 point guy for a guy who had 4 points in 26 games last year. The Tofolli signing was nice, but Habs still lack a superstar upfront. I can see them finishing as high as third, behind Toronto and Calgary. But this team has a lot of question marks on Defense, and lacks fire power throughout their lineup. Sure, some of ur players had a good playoff, but thats a 9 game sample, and not really enough to determine if a player is ready to have a big spot in the lineup.

WOW the Leafs had a 13 game winning streak last season and the Habs had 2-8 game losing streaks and the "mighty" Leafs only managed to finish 10 points ahead of the Habs in the final standings! That is quite the accomplishment for such a "powerful" team! Then to top it off those same "mighty" Leafs lost all 3 games against the weak and feable Habs getting out scored 13-8 in the process and yeah I see just how "strong" your "mighty" Leafs really are!

BTW the only question mark on the Habs D is Romanov. And that question mark pertains to whether or not he is ready for top 4 duties in the NHL. If he is then there are no question marks for the entire lineup.

Your top 9 isn't the best in the league.
Leafs have:
Hyman, Matthews, Marner
Mikheyev, Tavares, Nylander
Robertson, Kerfoot, Vesey/Simmonds
Spezza, Thorton, Engvall

The 13 game winning streak happened after the coaching change which, is what usually happens after a firing.

I said most balanced not most skilled. Your top 9 certainly has more elite forwards but a lot of them are horrible defensively. Our top 9 can score and plays defensively well.

Hyman great defensively, Matthews very solid defensively (you just seem to get more press for your offense when you score fourty goals), Marner again solid defensively kills penalties, Mikheyev solid defensively kills penalties, Tavares average defensively, Nylander nope, Robertson nope, Kerfoot solid kills penalties, Simmonds solid forechecker.

Not sure that top nine is as terrible defensively as you might think. Last year the Leafs were terrible in their own zone because aside from Muzzin, Rielly, and at times Holl (though Holl hasn't prooved himself) everybody else was better on the offensive side of the puck, Barrie and Ceci were huge defensive liabilities meaning that two thirds of the time the Leafs had a defense man that could easily be exploited. That's been mostly fixed this year.

I will give you Marner, Hyman Mikheyev, Kerfoot and Simmonds. I would say Matthews is slightly above average but like you said a guy who scores 40 goals doesn't need defense as much cause he is rarely in his own end lol. Tavares is slightly below average and the other 2 have no defense at all. But then you look at our top 9 and the only guy that is below average is Drouin, everyone else is above average. On the offensive side we have 2 very solid play makers (Drouin and Suzuki) 4 potential 25-30 goal scorers (Gally, Tuna, Anderson and Taffoli) and Kotkaniemi who can be both play maker and scorer. Then we have a 4th line that is really a 3rd line shut down line. Like I said just better balance through our top line. Not a Hell of a lot more but still more.

The leafs fired their coach, didn’t ice their fully healthy lineup for even ONE game in the season and didn’t have marner or tavares for 6 weeks, Reilly for 2 months, muzzin for2 months and still finished 10 points ahead of u guys. Crazy to think some Habs fans think they are actual contenders and can finish top 5 in the league next year LMAO. Habs are gonna have a tough time even finishing top5 in their division, forget about the league LMAO. and in those 3 games y’all beat us in last year Andersen only played one. Your forward group is average, defense is average both possesses no superstar like the leafs. Rielly muzzin and Brodie Holl make up one of the better top 4s in the league, much much better compared to the Habs. Have fun finishing 5th in the division behind TBL TOR BOS and FLA

You say u have a real good defense but gave up the seventh most goals last year, and to address that situation you traded for Edmonson who certainly isn’t a top 4 dman. Ur offense last year scored the 24th highest goals in the league. U addresses that situation by trading Domi for Anderson!!! Tofolli was a good signing but he ain’t playing with players like Peterson or Horvat anymore, and isn’t gonna score more than 50 points. Idk how you guys got better in the off-season?? Ur still a bottom team in the Atlantic and certainly not a playoff lock

Where did I say our D was really good exactly? I said the only real question mark on our D is IF Romanov can play top 4 minutes out of camp. IF he does were ok if not our LD is the weakest link. As far as the offense goes yes we scored the 24th most goals but that was with guys like Hudon, Weal, Peca, Thompson, Armia, Lehkonen and Byron playing in the top 9 and PP and sometimes even in the top 6. Hard to score goals with those guys on the ice all the time.

Bos isn't the power house it was last year especially with Pasta and Marchand out long term. Tampa needs serious help to get under the cap by puck drop opening day or they forfeit the season, so they are going to need to drop some very good players for very very low prices. Which means they too will be less of a power house team. Florida is not going to finish anywhere near the top after losing Dadanov and possibly Hoffman for nothing. The Atlantic will be wide open and considering how well the Habs started last season at the top of the standings after 2 months with a significantly weaker team. I look forward to this season and yes I know it was a bold prediction to say that the Canadiens will finish top 5 in the league but I honestly believe they will. In fact I predict that the top 5 teams will be (Not in any particular order):

Dallas
Colorado
Toronto
Montreal
One of Buffalo, Carolina or the Rangers ironically it will all come down to the goalies for all 3. Whoever can find the best upgrade in net will win that race.