With Tatar yes

I mean... on paper it's 8 guys with 20+ goals last year, and a guy who had 35 in 66 in his last full season. I have questions about the teams ability to support goaltending under DJ Smith, but on paper this team could go toe to toe against any team in the division

Sens are definitely gonna pack a punch on offense this season, with Tatar it would possibly contend for top in the Atlantic.

It's a good top 9, but no

Who would you put on top and why?

Toss up between Sens and Leafs imo.

Leafs have a better top 6 but it'll be close this season. Still don't think they have a better top 9 imo esp with signing Tatar here

No... Leafs are better all around top 9, same with Vegas, Devils, Avs, Stars etc.

This is what these players paced for last season (except Norris it was in 2021-22) :

Tim Stützle 95 pts
Brady Tkachuk 83 pts
Claude Giroux 79 pts
Joshua Norris 68 pts
Drake Batherson 62 pts
Vladimir Tarasenko 59 pts
Tomáš Tatar 48 pts
Dominik Kubalík 46 pts
Shane Pinto 35 pts

So which teams have a better Top-9?

I'd take Toronto, Buffalo, and maybe Tampa over this

Flyers decline

Tampa's players scoring pace last season (keep in mind this is a more defensively sound group as well)

Kucherov 113 pts
Point 95 pts
Stamkos 85
Hagel 65
Cirelli 43
Sheary 37
Paul 33
Jeanot 19 (lol we know he'll score more this season)
Barre-Boulet (didn't play in the NHL, but had 84 pts in the AHL)

Ottawa's top 9 will definitely score more, I just love how defensively responsible some of Tampa's centers are. And IMO Kucherov is a gamebreaker that Ottawa doesn't have an answer for. But just my opinion, obviously both top 9s are amazing!

Interesting, you see that Ottawa has impressive secondary and tertiary scoring

But I agree that the "team defense" is still the weakness. Unfortunately with the team sale taking that much time, management and coaching staff hasn't been replaced yet. That's when they'll really take off IMO (well, if next ownership and management know what they're doing)

Send Parker Kelly down and bring up Smejkal. Put a little scoring on that 4th line...
Remove the 4th coming back to OTT.