Despite a solid season in the North division the Leafs once again fell short in the playoffs losing to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round.
The flat salary cap has made it difficult to manouver and the team is committed to the Core Four of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
The emergence of Jack Campbell made Freddie Andersen expendable so they brought in Petr Mrazek to form a tandem with Campbell and the defence took a big step forward with the addition of the reliable T.J. Brodie. The question will be, can the team round out the four forward lines given the budget constraints?
General Manager Kyle Dubas has had to be creative, bringing in hometown guys like Nick Ritchie, Kurtis Gabriel and Michael Bunting, while bringing back the father figure of the team, Jason Spezza.
With the league expecting to return to a normal 82 game schedule, the question will be, Do they have enough to compete with the likes of the Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning and longtime Rival Boston Bruins?