Toronto Maple Leafs: Forecasting the NHL’s 5 Best Teams in 2021-22

I think that the Toronto Maple Leafs are the league’s most intriguing team this season.

The reason I think this, is because: The Toronto maple Leafs have one of the NHL’s best rosters, they are one of the top ranked Sports Book bets to win the Cup, and they are coming off a season in which they won their division and finished 2.5 wins behind the President’s Trophy winning Colorado Avalanche.

At the same time, they’re coming off an epic playoff collapse that seemed to put a punctuation mark on 55 years of not winning the Stanley Cup.  Their fan base is frustrated, apathetic and out of patience.

Understandably so.

It is this juxtaposition of fan apathy and a great roster that makes them the most intriguing team in hockey.

Will they finally put their demons to rest?

Will they capitulate and force their fans to riot?

Only time will tell.  But in the meantime, let’s check out their main competition for the Stanley Cup this season.   Here are my predictions for the NHL’s top five teams, as of today.  I wanted to avoid just listing last year’s standings, so I tried to factor in off-season moves, as well as players getting better or declining.  (info from capfriendly.com).

No. 5 New York Rangers

The Rangers finished last season 16th overall, and they didn’t even finish .500 if you factor in OT losses.

That won’t be the case this season, as the New York Rangers are going to come from out of nowhere to be one of the top teams in hockey.

The big jump will come courtesy of Alex Lafreniere, who didn’t have the greatest rookie season but who is about to become one of the best players in the NHL.

Considering they have the reining Norris Trophy Winner in Adam Fox, and an annual MVP candidate in Artemi Panarin they shouldn’t be too far off contending either way.

But when you throw in Chris Krieder and Mika Zibanejad, that gives them four full-fledged star players.  Ryan Strome is almost a star as well, at least when the Rangers have the puck. And Jacob Trouba is also close but not quite a star.

That’s a nice little core, but when you add in the potential of Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil, Vitali Kravtsov, Ryan Lindgren and K’andre Miller,  you’ve got a team that is primed for explosion.

Add in Ten Million in Cap Space, and a goalie, Igor Shesterkin, who is one of the most celebrated goalie prospects in years, and you’ve got a team that may have achieved the perfect storm of veteran stars and cheap ELC deals.

Their team right now reminds me of the Toronto Maple Leafs when they still Matthews and Marner on ELCs. Unfortunately for us, back then Uncle Lou went into the playoffs with Ron  Hainsey and Nikita Zaisev in his top-four.   Hopefully the Rangers are smarter.

No. 4  Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers had one of the single worst off-seasons in the history of the NHL, and it is absolutely hilarious that their success this year will likely make the NHL’s worst GM by a mile, Ken Holland, look like he knew what he was doing.

Holland started the summer off strong by signing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to a below-market value contract extension. Great move.  Unfortunately he followed that move with a series of moves each more confounding and idiotic than the last. 

Duncan Keith shouldn’t be in the NHL unless he’s free to acquire and being paid the league minimum. The Oilers are traded assets for him and are paying him likes its 2014. Good times.

They gave Zach Hyman a seven year contract which brings two words to mind.  Those two words are “David” and “Clarkson.”

The Oilers gave too much money and term to Darnell Nurse, Tyson Barrie and Cody Ceci.  They gave away a cheap and serviceable Ethan Bear to make it happen.  Ok then.

They have an unfathomably bad blue-line, and their decisions regarding goaltending are better left unexplored.

The bottom line: The Oilers are doing everything they can to waste the prime of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.

Fortunately for their fans, hockey is a game where the team with the best player usually wins. The Oilers have the best player, and in all games where they aren’t playing the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Colorado Avalanche, they’ll have the two best players.

And don’t forget, just because the contracts are dumb it doesn’t mean the players are bad.  Hyman and Nurse have terrible contracts due to the term, mostly.  They are still great players in 2021.

If the Oilers don’t get sabotaged by their goaltending , they are a serious Cup threat.  I rank them fourth because every team ahead of them has better goalies.  If the NHL is serious about calling more cross-checking penalties, no one stands to benefit more than the Oilers.

They are a legit Cup Contender.

No 3.  Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are being heavily underrated right now because of their playoff failure.

No doubt that it was a brutal performance, but realistically, John Tavares was injured and if not for that largely ignored, but incontrovertible, fact, the Leafs would have played the Lightning for the Stanley Cup last season.

The Leafs have a pair of goalies who should be seen as one of the top duos in the league.

They have three number-one defenders in T.J Brodie, Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin.  Travis Dermott is also a statistically dominant bottom-pairing player.

Up front they’ve got the world’s undisputed second-best player, and the somehow overlooked Mitch Marner, who, after coming in second in the 5v5 scoring race, scoring at a 100 point pace and providing elite defense, is now in competition with Nathan MacKinnon to be the NHL’s 3rd best player.

If the elite defense was not an aberration, but the start of a trend, then Marner will be the superior player, because they both score roughly the same amount.  Only thing is that Marner is younger and can still get better.

Say what you will about his playoff performance, but the underlying numbers were excellent and that is a far better predictor of the future than the bad results are.

Add in the fact that the Leafs should be the hungriest team in hockey, and the one with the most to prove, and I see no reason why they shouldn’t be considered one of the three best teams.

No.2 Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche won the President’s Trophy last year and should have no problem being one of the NHL’s top teams again this year.

They are a solid team from top to bottom, but they took a pretty big hit in net this summer when their goalie joined the Seattle Kraken.

Philipp Grubauer moving to Seattle hopefully means that I don’t have to try to spell his name correctly quite so often.  Other than that, it shouldn’t be a huge downgrade from him to Kuemper, with the caveat that Kuemper is often injured.

This is a guy who has to wear safety equipment to a butterfly conservatory, but who, when healthy, is one of the top goalies in the NHL.

The Avs forwards are not anywhere close to the Leafs but it’s on defense where they make every other team jealous.

Their top trio of Cale Makar, Samuel Girard and Devon Toews is incredible.  Their fourth and fifth defensemen are former first and second overall picks Ryan Murray and Erik Johnson.  Their sixth best defender might be future star Bowen Byram.

This is a sick lineup.  They are maybe the team to beat, if not for a certain Dynasty-Seeking Tampa Bay Lightning.