The Canadiens will have competition if they want to win the Connor Bedard lottery

The 2021-2022 season is not yet officially over and some are already starting to analyze the next campaign. With many of the Eastern Association's top teams on the horizon, teams that have dominated the standings in recent years could very well find themselves at the bottom of the standings next season.

As Nicolas Cloutier and Vincent Duquette point out, the Boston Bruins, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals could lose some of their luster next season.


We could add to this list the Florida Panthers who, following an early elimination in the playoffs, could strongly disappoint next year. This analysis of the Panthers, which you can see below, could also bode well for Kent Hughes and the CH.


It will be interesting to see if these teams, who have been at the top of the standings for many years, will finally have some down years. It would also not be surprising, due to aging players and, more importantly, payroll, if other teams join them and have a down year or years in the near future.

This turnaround is both good and bad for the CH. It's good because Montreal has a head start in its rebuild, which started this season, but it could hurt for the excellent 2023 draft.

Seeing that they are no longer as competitive, the GMs will want to go all out to draft Connor Bedard. They will be able to make trades and give themselves the best chance possible to draft the young prodigy. We recently looked at this strategy with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and there's no reason to believe that other teams won't follow suit as well.

This is only a first analysis of the Eastern Association and everything will have to be re-evaluated after the draft and, especially, after the opening of free agency market. At that time, we will have more information on the lineups that the different teams in the league will have.