KEY ADDITIONS				KEY LOSSES
Name Jonas Hoglund Jason Bonsignore	Pos. F F	From Canadiens Lightning		Name Yannic Tremblay Niklas Andersson	Pos. D F	To Thrashers Islanders

Outlook
Front office turmoil has left the Toronto Maple Leafs roster largely unchanged. But when a team finishes with the fifth-best record in the NHL, how many changes have to be made?

		Are the Leafs as good as they finished last year? They were led by free-agent goalie Curtis Joseph, left winger Steve Thomas and All-Star Mats Sundin, while offensive-minded Sergei Berezin was huge, scoring 37 goals. Can Cujo continue to face the quality scoring chances again and still win 35 games? The Leafs don't play tough, physical defense in front of their own net, a large reason for the 2.79 goals-against average last year. They had inexperience on the blue line with players such as Tomas Kaberle, Daniil Markov and Bryan Berard. But the playoff run should be all they need to carry them to another level. They had a terrible special teams ratio -- 14.4 percent power play and 80.3 percent penalty killing -- but by scoring 3.27 goals per game the Leafs made up for it at even strength. The Leafs won't win another 45 games but will still finish second in the Northeast. I look for Buffalo to be on top, followed by Toronto, Ottawa, Boston and Montreal.

The Leafs led the NHL in offense last season and the goals were spread out equitably. The only real hole for the leafs up front is at left wing. For instance, Mats Sundin centers the first line and has Steve Thomas as his right wing. But there is no clear-cut candidate for the left side. Fredrik Modin and newly-acquired Jonas Hoglund could fill the void.

Sergei Berezin, Garry Valk and Yanic Perreault combined for 78 goals last season and should again be a strength, although Perrault has often been mentioned as trade bait.

Not everything, however, is rosy for the Leafs. The club is facing the start of the season minus defensemen Bryan Berard and Dimitri Yushkevich, who are both sitting home as restricted free-agent holdouts. If one or both doesn't return for the start of the season, the Leafs will give inexperienced players like Greg Andrusak, Terran Sandwith, D.J. Smith and Dmitri Yakushin a chance to play. With a year NHL hockey under their belt, Tomas Kaberle and Daniil Markov should play important roles defensively. No matter how you slice it, the Leafs will have a difficult time improving on its defense ranking of 21st a year ago.

When you have goaltender Curtis Joseph playing in over 65 games a season, who needs a backup? Cujo will once again carry this club all year. Unfortunately for the Leafs, no matter how well Joseph plays, the Leafs will have a tough time equalling last season's 97-point finish.

'98-99 NORTHEAST STANDINGS
TEAM	W	L	T	Pts.
Ottawa	44	23	15	103
Toronto	45	30	7	97
Boston	39	30	13	91
Buffalo	37	28	17	91
Montreal	32	39	11	75

The bottom line
Better or not: Not
By how much: 3-5 fewer wins
Most improved: Fredrik Modin
Most valuable: Curtis Joseph
Biggest disappointment: Steve Sullivan

Charles Avellino is a lead NHL researcher for ESPN.