I’m actually not convinced that the Leafs improved at all. Well, scratch that — adding Kessel was clearly a coup, though one that might bite the Leafs if they turn out to be a bad team and those picks end up being very good one. Otherwise, I’m not sure I see much improvement over last year.

Burke has been reconstructing his blueline, but in the process he has deleted skill in favor of adding size. The guys he added are individually solid, but they are all bruiser defensive types, and he’s traded away Kubina who was in a different mold. The net result is a unit that may have trouble getting the puck out of the zone without having it returned right away, and will have trouble with defense-attack transition when Kaberle isn’t on the ice.

I think that talent-wise it isn’t a bad unit, though I don’t see it as an elite unit like some people have been claiming. However, I don’t think the unit is well-constructed. For my money puck movement is a vital 5-on-5 skill for defensemen and I don’t see enough of it on the Leafs roster, especially if they go ahead and scratch it in favor of more size and hitting. Physicality does not equate to defense. Toronto may be tough to play against in their zone, but they’ll be playing in their zone an awful lot if they can’t get the puck going the other way and outside of Kaberle and to some extent White, I don’t see that they have the skills to do that.

The net result is that I don’t see an elite blueline unit on the Leafs roster, just a pretty solid one — and one that I am unsure is actually better than last year’s. It would be much stronger if they’d kept Kubina.

In goal, Toskala has had a bad season, but his usual standard is averageness — so for the Leafs to do well, they will need Gustavsson to steal the starting job and prove to be a strong goaltender right off the bat. Toskala’s typical season won’t cut it here.

At forward, the Leafs did well last year seemingly by throwing defense to the wind (how else could they end up with such abysmal goals against? Toskala, of course, but that only goes so far). But before they added Kessel this was a pretty mediocre group, and really, it still is. Besides Kessel, no matter who is on the first line, they likely wouldn’t have been able to crack the first line of the typical NHL playoff team, and their most credible top-six forward, Antropov, was traded during the season. Even Kessel may struggle without Savard, though at his age, the ordinary improvement for a young player should compensate for the lack of passes from one of the game’s elite playmakers.

All in all, I think that Boston’s shiny new picks may end up being rather valuable when all is said and done. Toronto doesn’t seem to have much in the way of strengths, and a lot of question marks in every portion of their lineup. They have a worthy but non-elite unit of defensemen, a goalie with zero NHL games that will hopefully become the starter, and a smattering of forward led by an injured 22-year-old kid.

I think it depends on numerology.

What number is the equivalence of truculence? :)

I see the Leafs moving on up to 5th in the East. Not just because they improved so much but also considering the rebuilds that some other strong teams are going through ie. Montreal, NJ, NYR, Sens, etc. I see the Bruins, Caps, Flyers and Pens finishing ahead of them. Lots of question marks in Montreal although they could go either way. Washington should win the Southeast and the Leafs can outpoint the rest of that division (yes even Carolina).