Time to get out your crystal balls! Let's have a bit of fun a put up our "way too early" season predictions!
Here's how I structured the predictions.
1st section is player season performance predictions. You have 3 categories: great season (exceeds expectations or showed great progress), average season (did not show any major improvements, but also did not disappoint), bad season (did not meet expectations or just had a bad season). Place 3 players in EACH of the three categories and give a small explanation for why they are there. *please try and put players who will have a significant role on the team. to keep things interesting!*. Do not put more than 3 players in the categories, even though there could be many more that have great or bad seasons. Just choose 3.
My predictions:
Great Season
Cole Caufield (hits the 40 goal mark)
Juraj Slafkovsky (proves doubters wrong and "at least" gets nominated for the Calder trophy)
Michael Matheson (Has all Habs fans say "Prime Jeff Petry who?" by seasons end and is the Habs best defensemen by a wide margin)
Average Season
Nick Suzuki (puts up 60ish pts season again. Not a bad season, but has everyone starting to doubt if he can be a #1C)
Brendan Gallagher (improvement over last season, which isn't saying much. puts up over 40pts, but just shy of 20 goals)
Kaiden Ghule (becomes an NHL regular, Yay! but doesn't show any of the "top pairing" potential everybody is hoping for)
Bad season
Josh Anderson (with a plethora of wingers on the team, Anderson's inconsistencies gets him relegated to a bottom 6 role...really hoping I'm wrong on this one)
Christian Dvorak (gets eclipsed by the combination Monahan, Dach, and Evans at C. Injuries continue as well)
Jonathan Drouin (for whatever reason, can never get things going. Same as the previous 3 seasons, is away from the team for large amounts of time due to injuries or other reasons.)
2nd section is team performance predictions. Only 1 category: Standings placement (within division, conference, and NHL)
My predictions:
Standings placement
7th place in division (ahead of Buffalo, 8th, who finish last, but closely behind Detroit, 6th, in points and *fingers crossed* Florida who have a down season and finish 5th in the division)
14th in conference (ahead of Philly, 16th, who finish last, and Buffalo, 15th)
27th in the NHL, as in 6th last. (ahead of Chicago, Philly, Arizona, Buffalo, Seattle. As much as I'd like MTL to finish last to get Bedard... It would take another disastrous season for that to happen. Any kind of improvement, which is what we are hoping for for our young core, will only bring the Habs higher up in the standings... Nowhere to go but up from last year)
3rd section is the trade + pending UFA predictions. To make it interesting, you can trade ONLY 3 players (pending UFA or not), and you HAVE to extend 2 of MTLs pending UFAs. Predict who's being traded, and for what return, and predict the contract extension of both UFA players.
My predictions:
Trades
Mike Hoffman (gets traded way before trade deadline day, to a playoff team who's had PP struggles. MTL gets a 3rd rd pick + an average prospect. No salary retention. My guess for the teams are LAK, MIN, NAS)
Evegeni Dadonov (gets traded on trade deadline day, for a 2nd rd pick, 50% salary retention, My guess for teams are BOS, WSH, EDM)
Joel Edmondson (MTL will be looking to add another 1st rd pick at the 2023 draft, and none of their pending UFAs will get them that value. With the emergence of Guhle and Harris, and the fact that Edmondson is still signed to a good contract the following year, compared to what Chiarot signed in DET. Kent Hughes will make him available and get a boat load of interest, and manage to get a 2023 1st for him.... Twitter and CapFriendly implodes with how Team X overpaid for him.... my guess for the teams are LAK, DAL, OTT)
Extensions
Sean Monahan, extended 3 years at $4.5mil...maybe $5mil AAV. (Monahan has a solid year, displaces Dvorak, essentially becoming the "Danault replacement" Habs have been looking for, and is a great support, along with Evans, for Suzuki and Dach.
Jake Allen, extended 3 years at $3.25mil AAV. (Goalie market is a barren wasteland, and with no real replacement on the market OR in the Habs current system, Hughes extends Allen)