1. Shayne Gostisbehere will be on pace for over 20 goals when he gets traded at the deadline
Gostisbehere will get plenty of PP time and opportunities and if he keeps being used in the right side faceoff circle vs the QB role like he has in the preseason there’s plenty of scoring chances he will drive from that location. Very excited to see him potentially improve on what was already a stellar campaign from last season.
2. Barrett Hayton ends the season centering the Keller/Schmaltz line
Hayton is almost the unanimous pick I’ve seen for breakout player from the Yotes and this preseason has shown why. He looks quicker and far more confident in his game then since his junior hockey days. He hired the same professional chef that Keller did last season partially leading to Keller’s muscle gain and improved play over last season. Hayton is due for a breakout and with what should be a busy trade deadline opening up roles he will play higher up before the season ends.
3. Keller averages over a point per game this season
Last season Keller finished just short of that pace and probably does it if he plays the full season. This year I think he starts slightly slow due to recovering from his devastating leg injury and not playing in the preseason but ends the season incredibly strong especially once my previous prediction comes through and Hayton ends up on that line post-trade deadline.
4. The Coyotes do not finish as the worst team in the league.
There’s strong competition this year right out the gate in the race to the bottom with Chicago seemingly going all out tanking and Philly losing their best player for the season before it starts and already looking bad before that. If Vejmelka can be more consistent this season and the goaltending for the Coyotes is better than expected they could easily finish above at least one of those other teams. Having said that it will be a very close race to the bottom between all three teams and all three will be pretty large sellers all season long.
5. Söderström gets called up after Gostisbehere gets traded and scores 15 points post trade deadline.
Once Gostisbehere gets traded the Coyotes will need to replace his minutes somewhere and I feel Söderström gets that call. JJ Moser is the other and possibly more likely candidate to do so but I’m calling that Söderström takes a major leap in the AHL this season especially QBing the power play and he gets called up to fill that role rest of season. This is the role Söderström was drafted to fill and he fills that role admirably down the stretch run.
