I have to admit, I'm a little more afraid of the Leafs now than I was at any point over the last decade, now that they've made the conscious effort under Shanahan to actually pay attention to current trends and eschew the old ways of "truculence" and failed ideas on how to play hockey in the post-lockout era.
They have the horses on that team to be a legit every-year playoff team. Kessel, with his terrible conditioning, will experience a huge drop-off in production the second his "prime" is over... but until then, he's still an elite talent. They still need a center, but there are enough guys on that team that they should be an every-year playoff team. Not Cup contenders, but they should be in the top-8 in the East, especially considering how weak it is.
The problem for the last 3-4 years has been at the coaching and management levels. Leafs have made some good trades, but everything has always fallen apart at the organizational level - as in: "how do we organize this group of talent into a cohesive group that wins games consistently?". They misuse their youth at a level that is criminal, and are probably the most stubborn team in the league in the worst way possible. If all of a sudden they are prepared to change their philosophy, I think it's worth taking notice, because honestly, there's nowhere for that team to go but up. Unpopular opinion around these parts I'm sure, but rivalries aside, I think it's disingenuous to suggest that there's not a whole lot of room for improvement on that Leafs team, and foolish to think they can't fulfill at least a little of that untapped potential.
If there's a saving grace as a non-Leafs fan, it's that Nonis is still (and always be) an idiot and Carlyle is a dinosaur who refuses to alter his gameplan to suit the kind of talent he has on his team. Once the Leafs rid themselves of those two - assuming, of course, that they don't replace them with equal or worse boneheads - that team will turn a big corner.
Personally, the fact that Carlyle got extended until the year 2017 was probably my favorite offseason move of any team in the NHL. Leafs do have talent on their roster, but knowing that Carlyle is there to ensure it stays buried, and knowing he won't ever budge from his awful gameplanning and strategies that misuse all of his skilled players... it warms the cockles of my heart on even the darkest nights.
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