Last season, the Toronto Maple Leafs won a division title for the first time since 2021 during the realigned divisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Leafs made it to the second round, and forced a Game 7 against the Florida Panthers, but lost. To make matters sting that much worse, the Panthers went on to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.
Even though the Leafs lost Mitch Marner this offseason, they entered this season as the Panthers' main competition for the Atlantic Division. After all, the Panthers managed to retain all of their impending free agents to keep their core together for the foreseeable future.