Bold Prediction #4: The Jackets acquire a big name talent from a cap-stretched team… Result: miss.
Another prediction from our own Matthew Duffey falls short. But, I think he was onto something here. If the Jackets had taken any steps forward this year, they could have been adding a big piece to the roster.
But, this season was basically washed away before American Thanksgiving, which meant that the Jackets would be sellers all along.
The bad thing about being sellers in a year where you expected to take major steps forward? You don't really have much to sell off.
They were quickly thrusted into a position of evaluation with most of their roster. And after firing Kekalainen, we all knew that the trade deadline wasn't going to be much of anything.
With a terrible team on the ice, and nobody at the helm to make major changes, the Jackets just quietly shipped out a few players who don't fit into this team's plans moving ahead.
That's all well and fine; and I do think that the team is set up better after making those moves. But as for our prediction that they would be buying? Well, it's an obvious miss.
This one was punted off until the summer, or maybe even next summer, as this team circles back to their rebuilding ways.