Clearly the biggest impact on the Leafs' this season is the addition of ex New York Islanders captain John Tavares. The 27 year old 6'1 forward had 37 goals and 47 assists last season for a total of 84 points in all 82 regular season games. The most sought after UFA on the market this year talked to six teams before ultimately deciding to come home to Toronto, to play for the team he grew up cheering for. The addition of Tavares gives the Leafs incredible centre depth with a 1,2,3 of Matthews (63P in 62GP), Tavares (84P in 82GP), Kadri (55P in 80GP) with the fourth line centre spot wide open. With Mitch Marner coming off a 69 point season and the mid-late season call ups of Andreas Johnsson (3P in 9GP) and Kasperi Kapanen (9P in 38GP), the forward group is clearly incredible with some elite offence.

With all the excitement that came on July 1st this year, we also had some loss to our team. James van Riemsdyk signed with the Flyers, clearly one of the leafs' most valuable players this season, with 36 goals, 18 assists in 81 games, 11 of those goals coming on the power play the Leafs' go to guy for net front presence suddenly won't be there. Fortunately for the Leafs, Tavares plays in his spot on the power play, which will help maintain the elite presence. Tyler Bozak signed with the Blues, long time Leafs centre who had a career year in 16-17 with 55 points, and in 17-18 had 43 points. Leo Komorov, who really did everything, power play, penalty kill and 5 on 5, signed with the Islanders and even though Leo's spot on the roster was questioned towards the end of the playoffs when he became a healthy scratch, "Uncle Leo" was truly a great locker room guy and although he didn't put up and extreme amount of points, his importance to the franchise was never questioned. There was also a trade on July 3rd that sent Matt Martin back to the New York Islanders for a return of goalie Eamon McAdam who will become an RFA next summer. Martin became a healthy scratch about half way through the season, when Kasperi Kapanen was called up from the Toronto Marlies.

There is no question that the Leafs are not the strongest defensively. A lot of people are saying the thing keeping the Leafs from contention is their D. Personally, I think it could be a lot worse. A top pairing of Morgan Rielly and Ron Hainsey followed by Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev, the top four is not as weak as some people make it out to be. The third pair is where the questions start. For the first half of the season the bottom two of Andreas Borgman and either Roman Polak or Connor Carrick, which was not working out as well as it was supposed to. The mid season call up of Travis Dermott had Borgman back to Marlies. Majority of the season Connor Carrick spent his games watching from the press box while Polak played along side Dermott. The third pair may be Dermott and Carrick but you also have to take players like Justin Holl into consideration, who played outstanding for the Marlies and in his first and only two games in the NHL scored 2 goals and was a +5. The third pair could really be anyones spot at this point.

When it comes to prospects, the Leafs are far from short. With the Marlies coming off a Calder Cup Championship and many prospects playing in the CHL and other junior leagues, the Leafs have lots of options. As well as having a strong draft year the future sure is bright for this organization. Trevor Moore, Freddie Gauthier, Dymtro Timashov and Carl Grundstrom all have a chance to make it out of camp, as the fourth line spots are mainly open. On defence Martin Marincin, Calle Rosen and Justin Holl all also could be fighting for the bottom pair spots. Timothy Liljegren, the Leafs' first round pick in 2017, played his first season in North America this year with the Marlies and there is no question of how much his game is progressed and the experience he has gained throughout the regular season and playoffs. Liljegren may see himself with a few call ups next season, to help continue the development of the defencemen who will be a key part of the team down the road. Andreas Johnsson and Travis Dermott went back to the Marlies after losing game 7 to the Boston Bruins, where with them on the team they swept rounds two and three against Syracuse and Lehigh Valley, and won the championship in a 7 game series against the Texas Stars. Johnsson won MVP for the playoffs, with 24P in 16GP.

The top three forward lines looking something like Hyman - Matthews - Nylander, Marleau - Tavares - Marner and Johnsson - Kadri - Kapanen with Connor Brown playing fourth line RW with 4LW and 4C open to whoever earns it at camp and in the preseason, the Leafs are looking incredibly strong. They Wreaked Havoc on teams last year, and now with the addition of Tavares, the leafs are no joke. So as they say in hockey, lets do that hockey.