With the excitement of the Montreal Canadiens 2023-24 NHL season, comes some high expectations and wild predictions, some are met and even more are not. But the beautiful thing about a freshly painted sheet of ice is imagining how the season will go.
In the current era of the NHL there are players that emerge out of nowhere and shock the hockey world and some that are expected to develop into quality players, but never pan out. This happens each year and the league seemingly gets less predictable every season.
The Canadiens have had their fair share of high draft selections that never pan out. Alex Galchenyuk, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Michael McCarron are some names that can be likened to stepping on a shard of glass for the Canadiens and their faithful fans. On the positive side, Carey Price, Max Pacioretty and Cole Caufield stand out as players who did develop well, perhaps better than anyone expected, and Caufield continues to positively impact the Canadiens.
Just like the draft though, a prediction can rely heavily on making a decision that you feel will work best or be the most feasible to end up being correct. Caufield being on pace for 50 goals before his injury has sparked predictions for what he might do with a full healthy season, and his captain/puck distributor Nick Suzuki could also warrant some predictions. With his trigger man back, who knows what he will do?
In this exercise, we will dive into five scenarios that could feasibly occur during the ‘24 season. And should they happen, they would be best defined as bold. So with that, let’s jump into my five bold predictions for the Canadiens.