Habster:

Below is an excerpt from James Mirtle’s hockey blog where he makes some bold and somewhat odd predictions for the Eastern and Western conferences.

He has the Canadiens finishing fourth in the Eastern conference behind such powerhouses as New Jersey (#1) and Buffalo (#3)………..What the #$%^&????

Mirtle also has the Florida Panthers making the playoffs (not a huge stretch when you think about it) but he has the Rangers, Senators and Hurricane all missing the cut.

Excerpt:

Montreal — There’s going to be a ton of distractions in Montreal this season with the 100th anniversary celebration, but this is a solid team — especially with the addition of Alex Tanguay up front. The Canadiens were incredibly fortunate on a number of fronts last season, however, getting a huge comeback year from Alex Kovalev and hardly battling any adversity on the injury front. There could be more challenges to face this time around.
Key player: Alex Kovalev