32 Bold Predictions: Auston Matthews to sign NHL’s first-ever max contract

Frank Seravalli
Frank Seravalli(frank_seravalli)
32 Bold Predictions: Auston Matthews to sign NHL’s first-ever max contract

Fortune favors the bold, or so the saying goes.

Even conservatively handicapping a sport as unpredictable as hockey – where seemingly every season, there are two or three jaw-dropping surprises in the standings based on the bounces of a frozen vulcanized rubber disk – can leave you looking foolish.

We’re throwing conservative selections out the window. Go bold or go home.

With that, enjoy our annual tradition of public embarrassment with 32 bold predictions for the 2022-23 NHL season:

1. Move over MacKinnon. On July 1, the first day eligible, Auston Matthews will sign the NHL’s first-ever max contract to stay with the Toronto Maple Leafs: eight years x $16.7 million. That rounds up to $134 million, with a little flair for his jersey number. Brad Richards (2006) is the only player to sign for the maximum 20 percent of the salary cap, but it was only a five-year deal, not the maximum term.

2. It’s Showtime on Broadway. Patrick Kane will be traded to the New York Rangers and sign a long-term extension. He’ll be reunited with Artemi Panarin to chase a fourth career Stanley Cup.

3. Kane will have a twinge of doubt about his decision to leave when the Chicago Blackhawks win the 2023 Draft Lottery and earn the right to select generational talent Connor Bedard. Yes, this year, it is #SuckHardForBedard.

4. Four straight trips to Final? Anything is possible for Tampa Bay Lightning, who will win the Atlantic Division. Some are predicting a drop-off. I don’t see it, not with a Core Four that includes Andrei Vasilevskiy, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.

5. Five players will be 50-goal scorers in 2022-23: Auston Matthews, Leon Draisaitl, Kirill Kaprizov, Kyle Connor and Connor McDavid – who will hit the mark for the first time in his career. Alex Ovechkin and Chris Kreider will fall short.

6. “Dollar Bill” Kirill Kaprizov will win the Hart Trophy with an electrifying season, becoming the first Hart winner in Minnesota Wild franchise history. Kaprizov, 25, finished seventh in Hart voting last season after a 47-goal and 108-point campaign.

7. Bruce There It Was. Vancouver Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau will be the first coaching casualty of the season. Still can’t shake the apparent friction that existed between Boudreau and the front office last spring when he asked for and did not receive an extension. The Canucks’ stars haven’t impressed in the preseason and that might mean a slow start.

8. The Great Eight, Alex Ovechkin, will fall short of a record-setting 10th 50-goal season. Ovechkin will end up with 45 goals, passing Gordie Howe for second all-time to give him 825 for his career – 69 short of tying Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals mark. Nice.

9. Western New York kid Alex Tuch will be named the next captain of the Buffalo Sabres. Tuch gave the Sabres a much-needed shot in the arm last year, and if Peyton Krebs can take the next step, then GM Kevyn Adams will have made the best of a tough trade situation with Jack Eichel.

10. PointsBet Team Point Total Stone Cold Mortal Lock No. 1: St. Louis Blues OVER 95.5 points. Usually when I see a line that doesn’t make sense, I ask what oddsmakers know that I do not. I can’t figure this one out for the life of me. The Blues had 109 points last year. Does anyone see a 14-plus point regression coming? I don’t.

11. With renewed interest and buzz as the Sens’ rebuild bears fruit, late owner Eugene Melnyk’s daughters, Anna and Olivia, will reach an agreement to sell the Ottawa Senators franchise and maintain a minority stake. Melnyk left the team to his children upon his passing on March 28, 2022.

12. The Los Angeles Kings will be kings of the Pacific Division, winning their first division title since 1991. The team that took the Edmonton Oilers to Game 7 without Drew Doughty and Viktor Arvidsson quietly added 85-point scorer Kevin Fiala and has some of the best young talent in the league.

13. The 2019 No. 1 overall pick, Jack Hughes, will vault into the 100-point club. Hughes busted out with 56 points in 49 games last year, which is a 94-point pace, but he’ll need to prove he can stay on the ice. He’ll do that in the first year of his $64 million deal with the Devils.

14. Matty is the Man to Beat. Seattle Kraken center Matty Beniers will take home the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year. Beniers enters with the third-best odds to win, behind Anaheim’s Mason McTavish and Buffalo blueliner Owen Power, but piled up nine points in a 10-game sample size last spring after leaving Michigan.

15. The Toronto Maple Leafs will win a playoff round for the first time since 2004, but GM Kyle Dubas will part ways with the organization after his contract expires. That Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment has allowed Dubas to enter the final year of his deal without an extension has other teams salivating and has to at least leave Dubas wondering. His status might have an impact on prediction No. 1, too.

16. Playoff Teams: Tampa Bay, Toronto, Florida, Boston, Carolina, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh and Washington (East); Colorado, St. Louis, Minnesota, Nashville, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, Edmonton and Calgary (West).

17. With all eyes on Patrick Kane, Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin will be traded before the March 3 trade deadline. Larkin is quietly entering the final year of his deal and is a pending UFA. He holds a no-trade clause, but that could be a big change for a Michigan kid who has played almost exclusively in the Detroit area his entire life.

18. Prepare for more chaos in Vegas. Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon will be the first GM fired this season, after six chairs changed hands league-wide last year. It’s no secret that owner Bill Foley did a deep dive on McCrimmon’s job security after missing the playoffs for the first time and McCrimmon enters on shaky ground. For the second summer in a row, he was forced to unload a critical piece (Marc-Andre Fleury, Max Pacioretty) for nothing because of poor salary cap management.

19. For good measure, Max Pacioretty will be the NHL’s Comeback Player of the Year, coming off a torn Achilles tendon. There’s a chance Pacioretty is even back before the end of the calendar year. “We already know who our trade deadline acquisition is,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said on the DFO Rundown podcast.

20. PointsBet Team Point Total Stone Cold Mortal Lock No. 2: Columbus Blue Jackets OVER 79.5 points. They had 81 last year and they’re much improved. You’re welcome.

21. The Vezina won’t have to travel very far, crossing over the East River. Islanders stalwart Ilya Sorokin will capture the 2023 Vezina Trophy, out-battling Rangers counterpart and reigning winner Igor Shesterkin. 

22. The Ottawa Senators will trade for Jakob Chychrun before the New Year, ending what feels like a year-long pillow fight between Chychrun and the Coyotes after he’s made it abundantly clear he’d like to play elsewhere. The Sens have shown the most interest, with the Kings also in the mix, and he’d be a solid boost on a burgeoning backend.

23. After a tumultuous offseason and preseason, the Winnipeg Jets will bounce back to make the Stanley Cup playoffs. Yes, I picked them to win the Cup last season, and shame on me. But I’m doubling down. This roster has too much talent to fade into oblivion.

24. Yes, that means Rick Bowness will win the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year after winning over the curmudgeonly Jets with his infectious positivity. Bowness, 67, has been a coach in the league almost as long as the Jack Adams Award has been in existence. His first year as a Jets coach was in 1981-82, assisting the Jack Adams Award winner in Tom Watt.

25. Two-time Stanley Cup champion Phil Kessel will become the NHL’s new Iron Man on Oct. 25 when he skates in his 990th consecutive game in San Jose. The Golden Knights forward will surpass 1,000 games and a record that will never be broken. The next closest active streak is Carolina’s Brent Burns (679 games) and no other active player is close to 500.

26. Nice to know you, Naz. The emergence of Alex Newhook as Colorado’s second line center will make the Avalanche forget about Nazem Kadri, the 87-point scorer who was a huge part of their Stanley Cup run. Newhook will take a huge step forward with a 60-point campaign and plenty of ice as the Avs win their second straight Central Division title.

27. New Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice will pass Lindy Ruff and the late Al Arbour to move into fifth all-time with 800 career victories. This is no Florida retirement gig for Maurice, who oozes passion and wants to win. The Panthers won’t cruise to 122 points like last year, but they’ll undoubtedly be a threat.

28. While the Arizona Coyotes appear to be a darling in Tempe selling out a 5,000-seat Mullett Arena at Arizona State Univ., there will be a 30-percent drop in Arizona’s contribution to league revenue. Ticket sales will be on par with last season in a larger arena, but consider losses in corporate sales, suites, signage, parking, all of which will add up.

29. After resurrecting his career, Oilers forward Evander Kane will net a career-best 40 goals in Edmonton. He is the best pure stylistic fit on the planet to play with Connor McDavid. 

30. Down Highway 2 in Calgary, Flames center Elias Lindholm will win the Selke Trophy for the first time in his career. Lindholm was sublime last year, finishing runner-up to Patrice Bergeron, and though the faces have changed, Lindholm will be seen as a driver to the success of his linemates – now including Jonathan Huberdeau.

31. We’ll revel in another two-week run of hockey’s best drama in the Battle of Alberta, this time with the Calgary Flames avenging last year’s five-game loss. With the additions of Huberdeau, Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar, the Flames will be better suited for playoff success, and they’ll advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2004.

32. This time next year, the Carolina Hurricanes will be unfurling the franchise’s second Stanley Cup banner. Perhaps the most balanced and consistent team in hockey, the Canes will knock off the Flames, as Rod Brind’Amour will become the first since Lester Patrick in 1928 to coach and captain the same franchise to a Stanley Cup.

Giddy up.

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