James Tanner
The Leafs will win the Cup this year, and I’d say that even if they weren’t my favorite team.
The main issue I had with the Toronto Maple Leafs last year was their insane decision to keep Ron Hainsey on the top pairing. Still, despite this, they almost beat, and played better than, and so deserved to beat, the Boston Bruins in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This year, they’ve got a similar problem in Cody Ceci, but I don’t believe for a second that this will last. Additionally, they’re now much stronger on left wing, having added Ilya Mikheyev, and seen the emergence of Andreas Johnsson.
The other two things that the Leafs were missing were an elite right-side defenseman, and an elite defensive forward. Both of those things were added when the Leafs sent Nazem Kadri to the Avalanche in exchange for Tyson Barrie and Alexander Kerfoot.
The Leafs have the best roster in the NHL, and their three young superstars are all still getting better.
I know anything can happen, and the fact that out of Toronto, Boston and Tampa, whoever doesn’t win the Atlantic almost certainly has to play one of the NHL’s top three teams in the first round.
Still, I think this is the years the Leafs finally win the Stanley Cup.