Personally I think Ottawa was always going to be the 7th best team in that division. Buffalo and Detroit are on the same upwards trajectory but have at least some established top talent (including Tage as established after 40 goals last year, and Larkin). I also personally believe their young player pools are better (especially in Detroit’s case) but that’s very debatable. Montreal is definitely a surprise from me I wasn’t expecting such huge steps forward from Suzuki, Caufield, and Dach.

I personally thought they were never going to overcome that Dcore, and then Chabot didn’t take the step forward I think everyone expected. I think then and Buffalo will fight for the 6th spot in the division when it’s all said and done