Bold prediction #3: the RFA situation goes dramatically different than we expected.
The Blue Jackets enter this summer with approximately $23 million in cap space. They have 11 restricted free agents to straighten out.
Four of these guys are minor league players, and won't move the needle too much at the NHL level: Jet Greaves, Marcus Bjork, Jake Christiansen, and Tyler Angle.
But at the NHL level, there are some big names on the RFA list: Kent Johnson, Alexandre Texier, Kirill Marchenko, Cole Sillinger, Yegor Chinakhov, Alexander Nylander, and Jake Bean.
You know what all of these guys have in common? (Well, aside from Nylander) ... they are all Jarmo Kekalainen guys. Which means there is no loyalty here. No personal connection.
If the incoming GM looks at this roster and sees any of these guys as redundant or expendable, they could be moved. Maybe they just don't fit into the planned system?
Or, maybe this GM sits down with each individual player, and decides that some of them don't fit into the culture they are trying to build.
At any rate, even with the available cap space, I have a hard time seeing the Jackets holding on to all 11 of these guys. Thinking back to that logjam we have seen over the last couple of years, moving on from one or more of these players could help resolve it.