Highly doubt NJ finishes above NYI and Buffalo

Would love to Central to turn out that way Tampa Bay Florida panthers need to play some playoff series get a truly hated rivalry going

And now I’m going to piss off every Montreal fan I think they finished fifth behind Toronto Calgary Edmonton and Winnipeg

You did NYI dirty, fair assessment would be NYI 5th maybe 4th .

Toronto - Winnipeg, Matthews - Laine (assuming he wasn't traded yet) would be a sick series with TOR at #1 and WPG at #4.

I actually don't think it would be a good series. I just don't see Winnipeg being able to handle TO. They are similar in having great top end talent but TO's is just better and the Leafs have a much better defence.

Montreal is either going to be really good or they will crash and burn. Their speed and depth could cause a lot of people problems for certain teams. Edmonton for example and I think Edmonton is so flawed. Terrible at even strength and porous defence and weak depth.

I want to see TOR have to go against EDM.
I'll take EDM in 6.

Very possible

I wouldn't. Leaf's bottom 6, goaltending, and defence are significantly better. McDavid > Matthews, Drai> Tavares (Matthews>Drai imo but still beside my point a bit). But aside from that the leafs have the advantage at every position.

EDM has a better bottom 6. TOR defense is no better than EDM. One could also argue EDM had better goaltending last year than TOR. No reason to believe any difference this year.
TOR got old and slow in their bottom 6. Joe and Jason can't skate. Simmonds is done. He's been done for years.
EDM has the better high end talent.
You could argue EDM has 2 players better than anyone on TOR. No one wouldn't take that argument seriously either.
The best defense is a good offense and EDM has the guys who can carry the puck and make you chase. They got more depth scoring and if push comes to shove they will out physical TOR as well, as guys like Kassian and Chiasson are more useful than guys like Spezza Thornton and Simmonds in that regard. They are younger, faster, and more willing to throw down and mix it up. Believe me when I say 41 year old Joe and 38 year old Jason aren't the guys to mess with those two. And Simmonds is a little guy comparably. He's giving up 30lbs on Kassian who would be the guy to go in. Everyone knows he's a tough customer.

So yeah, I don't see TOR winning that matchup. They'd get 1 or 2 games. EDM in 6. Top 2 lines for EDM just have a field matching up against your bottom 6 when they get last change.

Leafs have a better bottom 6. Leafs D is significantly better than EDM - our third best D is better than any D on the Oilers (other than Klefbom but he's done for the year). EDM had comparable goaltending on Freddie's worst season and Hutchinson in net. Leafs upgraded big time this season with Cambell as backup (yes they got him last year but he didn't play much bc of shutdown league). Out physical? Ok you have two or three physical physical players on the roster - Chiasson, Kassian, Nurse. Leafs have Muzz, Hyman, Simmonds, Bogo, etc. that are physical as well. To me it goes McD > Matthews > Drai > Tavares > Marner > Nylander > Nuge in terms of big guns because Drai can't play defence.

Lets go line by line. (These are the training camp lines provided by Daily Faceoff)

1LW - Nuge or Thornton. Oilers win 1
1C - McDavid or Matthews Oilers win 2
1RW - Kassian or Marner Leafs win 1
2LW - Vesey or Kahun. Two bottom 6ers getting a shot in the top 6. Wash
2C - Drai vs JT Oilers win 3
2RW - Yamma vs Nylander Leafs win 2
3LW - Mikheyev vs Archibald Leafs win 3
3C - Kerfoot vs Turris close, probably about even
3RW - Hyman vs Pulju Leafs win 5
4LW - Ennis vs Barabanov. I'll give it to you since we don't know what Barabanov will be, and Robertson might end up in that role. They also would probably a wash, but... Oilers win 4
4C - Jujar vs Spezza. Leafs win 6
4RW - Chiason vs Simmonds. Wash

So far: Leafs 6, Oilers 3

LD1 - Rielly vs Nurse Leafs win 7
RD1 - Brodie vs Bear Leafs win 8
LD2 - Muzzin vs Jones Leafs win 9
RD2 - Holl vs Larsson. Oilers win 5
LD3 - Russel vs. Lehtonen/Dermott Leafs win 10
RD3 - Barrie vs Bogo. I saw how absolutely atrocious Barrie is defensively last year. Bogo is more sound, but Barrie puts the points up. I would take Bogo on my team over Barrie but I can see the argument for Barrie with his production. I'll give it to you Oilers win 6

G1 - Andersen vs. Koskinen Leafs win 11
G2 - Campbell vs Smith Leafs win 12

Final score: Leafs 12, Oilers 6. In conclusion, the Leafs roster is superior. Also Leafs top 6 would have a "field day" on that Oilers bottom 6 as well. Probably on the top 6 as well seeing as McD and Drai rarely play D (mores Drai but still)

Yeah I’m a homer, but come on right now VGK is rolling Karlsson, Stephenson, Glass, Roy, and Nosek as potential C’s COL is rolling potentially MacKinnon, Kadri, Compher, PEB and Jost that is a VERY distinct advantage for COL.

LOL ok this is one homer view man.
Koskine played better than Andersen last year. Lets just start there.
Thornton probably isn't on the 1LW spot for TOR. Look you can argue otherwise, but you are doing nothing but slowing that line down. The same is true with Kassian for EDM. I don't expect to see him there.
Trying to break it down by player anyway is a bad way to look at it, even by line.
Teams will play matchups. It will be line 1 vs line 3. Etc... Last change is a ****.
TOR is wise to not add 41 year olds to their top 6. That leaves them on the bottom 6 where lets be honest, they will be eaten alive by the speed of EDM top 2 lines.
You could say the same thing with TOR and EDM but guys like Kassian, Chaisson and Neal can move better than guys like Joe, Jason, and Simmonds.

Hockey is not a game of 1st line vs 1st line. It never has been. It's about taking advantage of the other team when you can. Playing the matchups getting what you want and getting some players with others or away from others. If you are EDM you want to match up on those older players. They won't be able to keep up. If you are TOR you probably don't want your top lines against EDM top lines either. They still win that matchup. You want their 3rd and 4th lines where you have an advantage. The difference being, they are better 3rd and 4th lines than the geriatric lines TOR is running.

ok but you seem to be acting like TOR's top 2 lines wouldn't kill the Oiler's bottom 2 lines as well. Also the reason why Thornton and Vesey are in the top 6 is so that the Leafs could build a speedy, defensively sound line in Mikheyev - Kerfoot - Hyman. Not saying they'll completely handle McDavid but they're fast enough to keep up with the EDM top 6 and it's not gonna be McDavid vs Thornton and Simmonds like you seem to be insinuating.

Koskinen is unproven and you could argue had a slightly better regular season. Andersen was also MUCH MUCH better where it counts (in the playoffs). And this is all on a down year for Freddie, who has been a rock for his entire Leaf career and is far more proven that Koskinen. There's not much of an argument for Koskinen>Andersen.

Also - looking at the Leaf's 4th line vs EDM - is Khaira - Ennis - Chiasson really any faster than Barabanov - Spezza - Simmonds? No, and I'd argue that the leaf's 4th line is smarter and better hockey players as well. And lol at EDM's depth being better than Toronto's.

You've also haven't really taken a look at the EDM defence, have you? Toronto's is so much better and it isn't even remotely close.

You clearly didn't read what I wrote. I clearly stated TOR should be looking to match up against EDM lower lines. But the matchup is nowhere near as bad as EDM top lines vs TOR bottom lines. Khaira - Ennis - Chiasson is faster than the TOR line and while it clearly doesn't match up well, I'd take that match up over the revere any day of the week. TOR has 3 players in their bottom 6 who are clearly washed. You can think what you want on that, we'll just agree to disagree.
As much as you'd like to say there is no reason Koskine > Andersen there is also no reason the opposite is true too. Which was my whole point to begin with. You can say, oh it's a down year. I'd say par for the course. Which is why so many TOR fans were ready to chase him out. You have no clear advantage here. But you tried to argue that you did. I have been saying and maintain that it's little more than a wash. I'd say the same is true on defense. You keep wanting to say the TOR defense is somehow better. It's not. If anything I'd rather start the EDM defense. At least they got 6 guys who belong at the NHL level. You are still using AHL Holl and calling him an NHL level defenseman.
You don't have these clear cut advantages you think you do. If anything there are some clear cut disadvantages. Starting at the top. and then the bottom 6. Everything else is a wash at best. As it's very possible their goalie outplays yours. He did last year.
And Muzzin Reilly and Brodie with a whole bunch of meh isn't really better than Nurse, Bear, Jones. With players like Larsson and Barrie capable of giving more. Especially Barrie who simply was a bad fit in TOR for whatever reason. Those guys are both on contract years. So I do expect more from both of them. So I don't see any clear cut advantage here for TOR. At the end you still have a team of 3 real defense men. It's not really improved and leaps and bounds better than anyone.

our third line is much faster than Ennis - Khaira - Chiasson. Mikheyev - Kerfoot - Hyman line was literally created for this exact reason.

Goalies can get hot, so fine. While I think its more likely that Andersen is better, it could go either way.

You're heavily underrating the Leafs D.

To start, you can't dismiss how much better our top 3 D are than yours. Brodie would literally be EDM's #1D. Then to the bottom 3 (according to DailyFaceoff lines) - Holl, Lehtonen, Bogosian vs Larsson, Russel, Barrie. Lets use Dermott over Lehtonen because we don't know what Lehtonen is. Larsson isn't really an upgrade over Holl, Dermott>Russel, and Barrie is literally incapable of playing defence. He'll rack up more points, but Bogo is more useful defensively. The bottom 3 D is not that far off, even if you want to say it favours EDM, and the top 3 D is Toronto by a million miles.

you keep wanting to put Hyman on the top line, as if Joe is going to be the 1st line. Let me tell you now how that isn't going to work. Believe me I know. I'm not an EDM fan, I'm a penguins fan. I seen what slow as hell Hornqvist did to the Crosby line. It's not pretty, it's a reason he got reduced to a 3rd liner. You don't want to slow your top 2 lines down.
Putting him on the 1st or 2nd line is basically sinking a line. So this 3rd line you are going with is imaginary. Even if they start with it, they won't end with it. It will be painfully obvious why when you realize how slow Joe really is. Your best bet is to not handcuff your top lines. That's where your talent is and if you are going to win it's on them.
Furthermore I don't think that is EDM 3rd line. It's not the one they have run in camp that I have seen. Turris is the center, my guess is Neal on the wing, they have rotated the wingers. We'll see. What I do know is they have no one as slow as Joe, Spezza and Simmonds on their bottom 6. Those are 3 of the slowest guys in the game today.
as for the D, you want to rip Barrie because he didn't work out in TOR. I get that. But TOR went after him because he could play. It just didn't work out there in TOR. Different team, different system. Like I said, I expect more from him.
I don't really view your top 3 as better as I said, it's a wash. Even with Bom out. Bear is a really good defenseman, Nurse is solid too. I think you over rate TOR defense. It's not good. The problem wasn't all Barrie, and it's returning most of the same pieces. Expecting huge leaps there probably isn't happening. They are a team who's defense was sinking the team last year even though the forward group was really solid. It wasn't just the goalie.
This EDM team is going to surprise you. They got the talent to pull away if given the chance. They'd win the series. I'll stand by that. I don't see McDavid and Drai doing otherwise and it all starts with those two. They can take over games.