Bold prediction #5: Pascal Vincent is retained as head coach.
Whether he's the right fit who can push this team to success or not, we can all debate. I'm not fully sold yet, personally. But, I think the team has invested too much into Pascal Vincent to move on from him after this last season.
Thrust into the job just days before training camp, Vincent was thrown between a rock and a hard place; with a young roster that was built to maybe, at its very best, finish middle of the pack.
I'm not sure Scotty Bowman was taking this team to the playoffs this year. The whole season was set up for failure, and that's exactly what happened. Vincent certainly shares some of that blame, but we can't say for sure that he had a fair chance behind the bench.
Look, it's obvious that he wasn't their first choice as head coach. I would argue that he probably wasn't even in the top-3 or 5; because he would have been an easy, inexpensive promotion last summer.
They wanted someone different. But, with that said, they've invested multiple years into this team with him working behind the bench in some capacity. He's still a young coaching asset in this league, so they don't want him to walk away without a true evaluation.
And, let's not forget: ownership is probably in no hurry to pay two head coaches for the second consecutive season.
For all of these reasons, I think Vincent gets one more season to right the ship. We may look back upon things and hate it, but at least then we'll know for sure.
The last thing I want, is for the Jackets to fire him now, and have him pop up somewhere else in a couple of seasons, coaching a team deep into the playoffs. We've felt that sting before.
There's always the possibility that the team will surprise us next season, even with Pascal behind the bench. In my opinion, the real change behind the bench needs to start at the assistant coach level first.
In any case, we'll look back at this article at some point near the start of next season, to see how our bold predictions turned out.