Objective Prediction: Toronto Maple Leafs Will Win the Stanley Cup

The Toronto Maple Leafs will continue their previously interrupted quest for the Stanley Cup when the season resumes on Sunday.

There will be five games on Saturday, but us Toronto Maple Leafs fans have to wait an extra day to see our team in action.

If the game against Montreal on Tuesday was anything to go by, it should be worth the wait.

The part of the season before the pause wasn’t the best, but it’s worth pointing out that the Leafs were 8th overall under Keefe despite playing about half of those games without Morgan Rielly and about a quarter of them without both Rielly and Muzzin.

Toronto Maple Leafs and the Stanley Cup

In fact, despite the general negativity surrounding the team, I’ve been pretty bullish on them all year long. I think that the injuries, combined with the goaltending being unusually bad, and the team having to learn a new system six weeks after turning over a third of their team are obscuring the fact that the roster is the best in the NHL.

How many teams have better centre depth in the NHL?  None.  Matthews and Tavares is the best 1-2 punch in the league, and any team that might say differently sure as heck doesn’t have Alex Kerfoot on the third line.

People complain about the blue-line, but the Leafs might start the playoffs with Rasmus Sandin on the bench.  Say what you will about Ceci or even Barrie, but no other team in the NHL has a player this good coming off their bench.

Nick Robertson led the team in expected goals and puck possession in his debut, while picking up an assist.   If Andreas Johnsson comes back, the Leafs four left wingers will be Mikheyev, Hyman, Johnsson and Robertson.  No one in the NHL is even close to that.

We haven’t even mention that the Leafs have the best right-winger depth in the league as well (on what other team is Kapanen on the third line?) or that a fourth line featuring Kyle Clifford and Jason Spezza is also the tops.

It’s hockey, so bad luck and goaltending will always threaten the best laid plans, but if you look at the Leafs objectively its hard to see them with anything other than the best roster in the NHL.

That is why, despite the extra series and the potential to have to play both Tampa and Boston on the way to the Finals, I am predicting a Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup.