HERE'S PREDICTING A TORONTO-TAMPA BAY CUP FINAL

With the trade deadline behind us — and the playoffs now only a month away — I have Boston, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Toronto in my Final Four.

Even before the deadline, those had been my picks to win the division and reach the conference final. My opinion hasn't changed since then. If anything, it has been bolstered by what transpired on Monday.

No team made more of an impact than what Boston, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Toronto were able to do at the deadline. No one even really came close.

This wasn't about making the splashiest moves — although those four teams did get some of the biggest names on the market. Rather, it's about recognizing where the holes are in your roster, however big or small, and filling them with the appropriate players.

The Avalanche needed insurance in net and an upgrade for their No. 3 spot at centre. So they got goalie Devan Dubnyk, who might have been the best backup goalie in the market, and brought Carl Soderberg back to Colorado in a role he has played before.

The Bruins won the bidding war for Hall. But it was more about need than want. They needed secondary scoring. They needed someone who could play alongside David Krejci. They got that in a player who still has the potential to play at an MVP level, despite what his numbers in Buffalo may have shown. And they also got Mike Rielly, who adds experience to a very young defence.

The Lightning, who will soon welcome back Nikita Kucherov for the playoffs, needed a defensive specialist on the backend, someone who could take the load off Victor Hedman when it came to killing penalties and sacrificing his body. They got the best man on the market in David Savard.

The Leafs needed a bunch of things: they wanted to be grittier in their top-nine, they wanted a safety net in goal, depth on defence, and another centre to kill penalties and take defensive draws. Their checklist is complete with the acquisitions of Nick Foligno, David Rittich, Ben Hutton and Riley Nash.

Who knows how this will end up? So much of the playoffs are based on luck and circumstance and having all the stars line up at the exact right time. But barring a major injury, I'm calling for a Tampa Bay versus Toronto final.

That being said, we could still see a final between the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes. I just don't necessarily want to see it.