The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to “make the playoffs” against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a five game series early next month.
Should the Toronto Maple Leafs dispatch their seemingly inferior opponent in five or less games, they will enter the NHL Playoffs proper.
And they should be seen as a favorite.
Maybe even the favorite.
Toronto Maple Leafs and the Stanley Cup
Now, we know that won’t happen.
The Leafs will start the first game of the real first round on the road, and as such they will be an underdog.
However, that should only be a technicality.
If the Leafs are the same team they were from the time they hired Sheldon Keefe to the time Morgan Rielly got injured, they are going to win the Stanley Cup.
But even if they aren’t quite that good, the strength of their roster should get them a lot more respect than they seem to get.
Despite people complaining about their blue-line almost non stop, Morgan Rielly is among the five or ten best defenseman in the world. Few other blue liners put up as much WAR as Jake Muzzin did.
In fact, Muzzin and Holl made one of the better shut-down pairs in the NHL, while a pairing of Barrie and Rielly (for ten games) was an unstoppable machine that scored 60% of the total goals.
If the bottom pairing features Travis Dermott (one of the best 3rd pairing defenders in the NHL over the last three years) and Rasmus Sandin, who is already threatening to be an elite player, then the Leafs are set.
Sure, they won’t scare anyone physically, but when they win it won’t matter.
If Andersen is back to the top of his game, the Toronto Maple Leafs should be nearly unbeatable.
While the Leafs certainly won’t be getting the title of “favorites” until they actually win something, this team is fast developing into one of the best teams in the NHL.
From the time they fired Babcock to the end of the regular season, the Toronto Maple Leafs put up team stats on par with the Lightning and better than the Bruins.
The only teams in the NHL with a comparable roster of elite players and excellent bottom of the lineup depth is Tampa and Las Vegas.
Vegas and Tampa get their due as two of the best teams, but it’s only going to be a little while longer until the Leafs do as well.
I fully expect them to win the Stanley Cup this year.