Last year’s NHL season was wacky enough that you could have consulted a Magic 8 Ball for your prognostications and you’d fair just as well as any reputed pundit. Phoenix and Colorado surprised everyone by making the playoffs, while pre-season favourites like Philadelphia and Boston didn’t solidify their spot until the last few games of the season.

Once the playoffs began even more madness took place. Montreal surprised everyone by defeating the President’s Trophy winners and the defending Stanley Cup champion, while the Flyers became only the third team in hockey to ever rally from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.

Predictions are a fool’s game. Accordingly, I won’t begrudge you if you are skeptical about the following predictions. If they turn out completely wrong I'll pretend a robot wrote this. However, don’t condemn me as a witch if they turn out with a supernatural accuracy.

If you attend a certain university in Southwestern Ontario this article might seem familiar. The difference between reading this on my blog, as opposed to the student newspaper, is that this will ramble on and I’m liable to piss more people off… starting now…

Even though Montreal fans enjoyed a surprising run to the Conference Final last season they shouldn’t bother planning their semi-annual riot.

It’s the start of another season and since January 31st the Leafs have made drastic changes to the line-up that started last year so poorly.

The beginning of every season provides ample opportunities to get overly excited and make rash predictions about how the season will fare. Let’s just say I’m glad I started this blog after the start of last season, otherwise there would be a very erroneous prediction forever engraved on the internet.

This year is different. I’m certainly still optimistic about the Leafs’ chances this season, which is my usual September feeling, but I also recognize the reasons I should be pessimistic. The Leafs did finish second last a year ago.

Without a first round pick (yet again) Leafs Nation will be fully committed to a winning season. Tank Nation is dead. With the season about to begin here are five reasons to be optimistic, five reasons to be pessimistic, and five reasons to be realistic about the upcoming Leafs’ season.

The title of this article was originally ‘A Biased Leafs Fan’s Objective Comparison of the 2010-2011 Leafs and Habs – An Analysis of both the Short and Long-Term’. But of course that’s a longer title than Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

Based on last year it might seem foolish to compare both teams. The Canadiens managed to make it all the way to the Eastern Conference Final, while the Leafs not only finished dead last in the Eastern Conference, but gave their second overall draft choice to the Boston Bruins.

However, it took Montreal until the last game of the season against the Maple Leafs to clinch a playoff berth – which they narrowly achieved by losing in overtime.

Montreal starts the new season largely the same – minus their team MVP who is now in St. Louis. The Leafs made dramatic changes in January and have made minor tweaks this off-season.

How do these teams compare now? Let’s break it down.