It’s hard to predict the future. For Montreal Canadiens fans the task is made especially difficult considering Marc Bergevin’s reputation for secrecy and Michel Therrien’s line-shuffling habits.

And yet, despite not being psychic, I’m going to try. Between now and when the Leafs and Habs face-off on October 2nd, I plan on looking to the 2015-2016 season and doing my best to guess just what exactly is going to happen.

Alex Galchenyuk

Let’s start with the hottest topic around the Habs these days: signing Alex Galchenyuk.

I predict it won’t be done until the beginning of training camp in September. My guess is that he signs a four-year contract with a cap hit of $4-million per. I also predict Galchenyuk is going to break out and will be an elite player in this league, and just like Max Pacioretty, Bergevin signs him long term at a reasonable cap hit.

The Blue Line 

It’s obvious that the Canadiens have too many NHL ready defensemen with Greg Pateryn, Jarred Tinordi and Mark Barberio pushing to make the team. Pateryn and Tinordi now have to clear waivers if they are to be sent down to the AHL, so it would seem a trade could be imminent.

Bergevin is going to go into training camp looking to evaluate and I believe he will end up trading Tom Gilbert for a pick. Gilbert carries a reasonable cap hit of $2.8M and is in the final year of his contract. With Gilbert moved, I predict the Canadiens defensive core will look like this on opening night:

Subban-Markov

Petry-Emelin

Beaulieu- Pateryn

The Forwards 

As far as the forwards are concerned, I don’t believe there will be any more free agent signings or trades in the off-season. The only thing that will be different is the addition of Zack Kassian, as well as the addition of one young gun destined to make the team.

In my opinion, Sven Andrighetto wins that young gun spot and will start opening night. The Canadiens will look to put Kassian in a top-six role for the first couple of games to see how he fits, but Andrighetto will steal that spot later on in the season.

The offensive lines on opening night will look like this:

Pacioretty-Plekanec-Gallagher

Galchenyuk-Desharnais-Kassian

de la Rose- Eller-Andrighetto

Smith-Pelly-Mitchell-Weise

The Maple Leafs

My last prediction for opening night is that the Montreal Canadiens will beat the hopeless Toronto Maple Leafs.

Score: 4-1 (Habs)

Goals scored by: Plekanec, Gallagher, Markov and Eller

3 Stars:

1. Tomas Plekanec
2. Andrei Markov
3. Brendan Gallagher

Now I want to hear your predictions! Leave your comments below and/or reach out to me on Twitter @QF25Matt.