Habs captain makes a crazy prediction about Radulov.

There is going to be an insane amount of scrutiny on the Montreal Canadiens in the 2016-2017 season as a result of several off-season decisions made by the organization, and many of those eyeballs will be focused firmly on Russian superstar Alexander Radulov.

Radulov will be stepping in to the pressure of a Montreal market that hosts arguably one of the most rabid fan bases in all of hockey, if not all of North American pro sports, and a fan base that will be expecting big things from the Russian forward. Radulov's new teammates aren't making it any easier on him either, and in fact Habs captain Max Pacioretty has set the bar extremely high for Radulov with his most recent comments.

During a recent media scrum at a charity golf tournament hosted by Habs head coach Michel Therrien, Pacioretty made an incredibly bold prediction, suggesting that he believes Radulov could be one of the 5 best players in all of hockey next season. That is to say not just a top 5 NHLer, but a top 5 player worldwide.

"He could be one of the top-5 skilled players in the world right now," said Pacioretty as per Sportsnet.

While Radulov is certainly very talented it will be no easy task to hold that kind of reputation after his one-year contract with the Habs, but the organization signed him for a reason and the captain seems confident he can be no less than great.

[pub]