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Stanley Cup playoffs preview: Is the North ready to be competitive yet?

For one season and one season only, hockey fans north of the border would be supplied with the knowledge, at least for this single moment in time, of which franchise was best. And at the end of 56 games (and if we're honest, long before), the Toronto Maple Leafs answered that question definitively. But perhaps more important for fans of the postseason success-starved franchise is the fact that the Maple Leafs didn't rest on their laurels on the path to their first division title in decades.

Kyle Dubas was fixated on more consequential objectives, having worked to assemble a team that is more talented, far more balanced, and considerably deeper than it was at the beginning of the season — and despite rival GMs taking opportunities to poach his players in the waiver system.