I fully believe that team will make it out of the north. I’m also quite confident they get smoked the second they cross the border.

I'm not sure I would use the word smoked. I don't like their chances much against Tampa, Colorado or Vegas. I could see them pulling off upsets over NYI, Carolina or Washington tho.

I would have them favored against NYI, even money against Washington, and an underdog against Carolina

There is no such thing as an upset when a team is in the top 5 in the league. I get that comparing between divisions is limited but it isn't an upset.

I really have an issue with vegas' C depth and I think it gets exposed in a gruelling playoff series. Also while their top pair d is incredible the rest are somewhat lacking. I think they're beatable.

Tampa especially with kucherov is the best team in the league. Period. That is what it is.

I don't think the islanders, or Washington or Minni are better than Toronto.

Carolina is awesome but they have questions in net.

Colorado is the second best team in the league so that is what it is.

All that being said gotta play the games to see who wins!

That’s the thing. I don’t think toronto is top ten.

I'd say there are tiers

First tier Tampa and Colorado

Washington, Toronto, Carolina, Islanders, Vegas, Panthers

Jets, penguins, Minni, Oilers*, Boston**

Montreal, St Louis, whoever makes it from the central

*Oilers can outperform given the mcdraisaital
**Boston can outperform if Rask/Halak/Krejci refind their youth for a cup run. With their "perfect" line up top it won't take much to get them going

You can feel what you want but they're #5 in points percentage. I recognize it's limited to compare across division but their ranking is their ranking.

That division is just so so so so bad. After looking over everything, i would put toronto tenth.

You’re really going to put toronto ahead of boston? I get that the bruins are crippled and trotting out an ECHL D group right now, but they should get healthy. Given recent history, if boston is playing toronto, are you really putting your money on toronto?

It's not really a one vs one. Clearly Boston had Toronto's number. I'm just trying to tier teams.

Also Rask and Halak both seem to be showing their age. Bad goaltending has nuked numerous teams.

I also think that both the Leafs and Jets would be at the top (not necessarily number 1) in any division.

The Oilers are always dangerous given McDrai.

Montreal and Calgary are as good as any divisions mushy middle.

I'm not sure why people are knocking on the north.

Sure Ottawa stinks

But jersey and buffalo are as bad

As are the ducks and the red Wings.

The King's, sharks, totes, Nashville, Dallas (missing it's number 1 c and goalie all year otherwise better), Chicago, Philly (given Hart's play), Rangers, Vancouver and Calgary are on a similar tier.

I mean, tuukka has been hurt. I haven’t seen a single shred of evidence of him slowing down, aside from one of the first injuries of his career. The four playoff teams in the east, tampa, Carolina, and florida, Colorado and vegas are all ahead of toronto significantly in my opinion.

2 things

1) I haven't looked at him in about a month and his last 4 games were good and pulled up his season save percentage

2) even with that he has a 0.907 which is the worst of his career and first below 0.910 outside of one year of 0.912 it's his first year below 0.915 (and again I think he was under 0.900 when I last looked)

To expand this is the first time in his career that he has a negative gsaa

He’s played the season with a lower back injury. That’s why he’s on IR right now. Injuries happen in the national hockey league.

Fair enough. I really haven't followed the other three divisions closely this year.

I saw worsening stats in a guy in his mid 30s and made an assumption. My apologies

No worries. It’s a tough position to judge. I would say that goaltenders with his body type tend to age well. I think he’s got three years left in the tank.

I really have an issue with vegas' C depth and I think it gets exposed in a gruelling playoff series. Also while their top pair d is incredible the rest are somewhat lacking. I think they're beatable.

Tampa especially with kucherov is the best team in the league. Period. That is what it is.

I don't think the islanders, or Washington or Minni are better than Toronto.

Carolina is awesome but they have questions in net.

Colorado is the second best team in the league so that is what it is.

All that being said gotta play the games to see who wins![/quote]

I just think given their history in the playoffs and the current divisions it would be maybe not an upset but unexpected that they beat VGK, Car, Col, NYI, Col, TB, Wsh

Vegas while being a little thin in the middle more then makes up for it elsewhere. McNabb is solid, WhiteCloud is a good 3rd pair guy, Martinez is still a very solid top 4 guy, Theo and Pietro speak for themselves and usually don't play together, they rotate a 6th man through but still a very solid d core. On the wing they have Stone, Patches, Smith. Marchessault, Tuch, etc. and two number 1 goalies. I don't love our chances against them.

Tampa and Colorado are definitely top 2, no question asked.

Islanders are so deep and do thing by committee plus they're proven to be good in the playoffs and play so well defensively as a unit.

Carolina is also deep up front and have one of the best top 4's in the league. Despite injury Mrazek has been good since returning and Nedjelkovic has played exceptionally. We might have more options but I wouldn't say we have any less of a question mark then Carolina.

I like Washington this year, I love their top 6 and playoff experience but they do have a question mark in net. Of all the teams listed I think the Caps are the team I'd want to come up against in round 3 if we make it there.

You're right though they still have to play the games.

I don't think Florida is way ahead of the leafs at all. Dead even, possibly favoring the leafs with Ekblad down in my books but I don't think the panthers stand much of a chance of getting out of their division so it doesn't really matter. I think Carolina and Vegas are better, but I think the leafs are capable of beating them, they probably have a tougher time with the big heavy defensive Vegas team but i think both matchups would be good series. Tampa and Colorado are going to be really tough but anything can happen in the playoffs, very doubtful the leafs win the cup but not out of the relm of possibilities.

I also have a hard time saying all the teams in the east are WAY ahead of TO, Boston and Pitt especially.

I’ll admit that part of this is based on past performances by the leafs in the playoffs. I really think theres just something about that core that isn’t going to allow them to win.

The only time they've "choked" was last year. The two previous years Boston was the better team by a decent amount and they took them to game 7. If it goes wrong again this year I will agree part of the core needs to change but the only series they lost that they should've won was last year.

Four straight first round exits. I just don’t think this core has it.

The core was not the issue last year except for who Nylander has been a ghost come playoff time ever year. Marner and Tavares were both decent and Matthews was great, problem was secondary scoring. If he's not better this year he needs to go but Matthews Marner and Tavares are here to stay, impossible to move those contracts anyway. Looking back I think the leafs would be better off not signing Tavares. I like our chances to win a couple rounds this year, were a better team then the past few years playing in a weaker division lol.

The same narrative floated Washington for years before they broke through. No one thought St Louis could get it done. Pittsburgh was washed. You need a good team AND you need to get lucky to win a Cup. Say what you want, the best team does not win the Cup every year. It happened last year but a 7 game series can flip in an instant. The Leafs ran into a hot goalie in the playoffs and lost to a worse team.

All those teams had won a playoff round this century.

If only they held on to their 2013 4-1 lead, then Matthews would be able to win a playoff series...