The Oilers team is definitely a work in progress, but the pieces there are high quality, and could click with the right moves. We also had injuries and other issues last year, which is an underrated factor in a team's success or failure. Tampa even missed the playoffs a couple seasons ago, while being stacked. Parity is real. Having any kind of handicap is a death knell.
Toronto's rebuild seems quite good, although it's hard to say how real they are. Their brilliant move was landing Anderson, an established #1. It's also amazing that they got Tavares of course. I also think that they learned from their failed rebuilds, and Edmonton's failed rebuilds, with that PR campaign that told the fans to expect a losing season to rebuild the correct way, along with a freeze on ticket prices. That removed the intense pressure to win in that market, and ironically led to them being such a poised and successful team. Same kind of factor as Vegas. Low expectations, no pressure, and it helps players succeed (especially young players)
For Edm, it was the opposite, with sky high expectations. The proof is that we had historically bad special teams at home, and high ranking PK on the road. (Maybe road PP was good too). Our team needs a good start to remove the pressure. What sucks is that we already have injury issue in that Sekera is gone, and the replacements are sub par so far. We also still don't have an OFD, and will likely rush a young kid, which is destined to be hit and miss.