Why not bottom 5 this year.

After the major roster overhaul the Leafs had - they finished their season with 13-10-2 record - which put them on pace for 6th in the East over a 82 game season. I will try to prove my point without going into statistical details. Why not stats you may ask? Well, for one, I am not good at Math. Two, they only pretend to show you what could or could not happen. If the stats were always correct to point things out, scientist should be able to predict the future for us. Anyways, here are some logical reasons, Leafs will not end up in bottom 5.

As Burke likes to build his team from net out, lets start talking from the Goaltending Position. 

Goaltending: 
One of the main reasons why Toronto Maple Leafs ended second last in the league was Goals Against. Why did this happen? Well for one, we had horrible goaltending. I won't blame Vesa Toskala for ALL of it, but I will blame him for most of it. Here's the reason why: we had a completely new defence coming into the season. Ron Wilson was trying out the young kids in pre-season games. That led to our new and "improved" defense not having the time to gel, and get used to each other, which in turn led to shaky defence. Now when the defence is shaky, strong goaltending is needed. The goalie doesn't necessarily have to make LOT of saves, he just needs to make TIMELY saves. Toskala did not provide Leafs with that. That on the other hand put a lot of pressure on Jonas Gustavsson whose heart couldn't really handle it.

Since the addition of Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who has been a great mentor to Gustavsson. He has provided Leafs with some stability to the Leafs' goaltending situation. That, alongside with one year in #50's belt, he must be ready to prove to the world that what he REALLY is made of. I am sure hes eager to put the losing season behind him, and start this season the way he finished the last.

Defence:
As mentioned above, Toronto had a problem with new set of defenceman coming in, who has NEVER in their lives played with each other, and are asked to play first parts of the regular season games with each other. With non timely goaltending provided, Leafs ended up with a 0-7-2 start. This happened because, we had defenceman trying to earn their full 5 million dollar paycheque on their first shift, that caused mistakes, which caused them to try to prove to fans that last shift was just a mistake, and that 5 million dollar contract will be earned in this shift. The cycle went on and on. To top it all off, when every mistake starts costing the Leafs goals, d-men start to hold their sticks tighter, and starts to collapse a lot earlier, which gives the other team's offence way more time and room to maneuver. This causes more and more goals to go in our net.

I believe, they have learned from their mistakes and now will play with much needed poise and patience. They will be able to provide us with some great defensive plays, and their errors won't cost them, much. Leafs have some great defence, atleast on paper. Let's hope that, our defence will be our Number One star every single night.

Offence:
Leafs offence was also one of the league's worse in 2009-2010 season. For most of the year, we had a "sniper" who was good at showing us fans what other team's logo looked like. Or, we had playmakers, who were good at making tape to tape passes with other team's defenceman. Let's face it, we HAVE improved our offence this offseason, not by alot but somewhat. Let's be honest, Kris Versteeg is an improvement to Alex Ponikarovsky, and Colby Armstrong is an improvement to Jason Blake. Even though we have Kadri in the system, I am one of those to believe that Kadri should be sent into minors, if not for the whole season, but better part of the season. Let him learn the Pro game at the AHL level, it will be beneficial to us in the long run. On the other hand, Leafs may not have good offensive unit, but I believe our defence is capable of scoring. Leaf's defence may not be capable of filling up ALL the holes on the offence, but atleast a little bit. Scoring by committee, lets see how that works for the Leafs.

All in all, my opinion is that, Leafs have improved in 2 areas, they just need to improve the scoring to be a considered a threat to make a deep run to the playoffs, or a playoff race.

Overall, my prediction is Leafs will be a bubble team, they will end up somewhere between 7th and 11th place.