NHL insider makes interesting prediction on Joel Quenneville’s future

Official puck drop of the 2017-2018 NHL season is only a couple of hours away, and that means it’s predictions time again! Frank Seravalli came up with his yesterday, and let’s say there’s a lot of interesting ones!

According to Frank Seravalli in his latest article for TSN, the Chicago Blackhawks will make the playoffs, but only to lose in the first round for the third year in a row. He added that Joel Quenneville would even be on the hot seat if that happens again. Stan Bowman, general manager of the Blackhawks, said that this situation would not be acceptable, but is Quenneville would be the only one to blame? Chicago’s defense raise some serious questions. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook will still lead the pack, but after these two, it’s kind of unclear what their defense will look like. Niklas Hjalmarsson (traded to Arizona) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (expansion draft and later traded to Carolina) left this summer, and Michal Roszival is on the long term injury list after he failed his medical test. Connor Murphy, acquired in the Hjalmarsson deal will have to play big minutes behind Keith and Seabrook, and we’re not quite sure what Michal Kempny, Jordan Oesterle and Jan Rutta can bring to the table.

So yes, maybe Chicago will lose again in the first round, but can we blame Quenneville if that happens? Only time will tell.