Next 100: NHL.com predictions for League from now through 2117

The NHL turned the page on its Centennial celebration during the 2017 Scotiabank NHL100 Classic in Ottawa on Saturday and began looking ahead to the next 100 years of the League.
As part of the Next100, NHL.com writers and editors made their predictions of what could happen in the League between now and 2117.

June 12, 2021: New Jersey Devils right wing Kyle Palmieri is awarded the 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after scoring 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) in 25 games to lead the Devils to the fourth Stanley Cup title in franchise history.
Sept. 24, 2021:Don Cherry retires at age 87, ending his 41-year run on "Coach's Corner" during "Hockey Night in Canada" broadcasts. Instead of canceling the segment, a reality TV show is organized to find the next "coach." Former NHL player and Arizona Coyotes broadcaster Paul Bissonnette wins the competition and begins a 25-year run as the new analyst on the first-intermission segment, playing expertly off his host, Elliotte Friedman.
June 30, 2026: Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews retires from the NHL and immediately is named Prime Minister of Canada.

Feb. 15, 2027: Jaromir Jagr celebrates his 55th birthday by announcing he will retire at the end of the season or when he passes Wayne Gretzky for the most points in NHL history, whichever comes first.
March 13, 2028: Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith, closing in on his 45th birthday, plays 26 minutes in a 7-2 win against the Minnesota Wild, raising his time-on-ice average to 25:10 per game.
April 16, 2028: 6K television allows fans to feel like they're in the face-off circle for puck drop between Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Arizona Coyotes captain Clayton Keller for Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series. The technological advance allows fans, with the push of a button or verbal request, to switch angles to watch games from any vantage point on or off the ice.

June 14, 2028: The Vegas Golden Knights defeat the Montreal Canadiens in the 2028 Stanley Cup Final and lose the Stanley Cup somewhere in Las Vegas during their postgame celebration. After the Golden Knights bring in actor Zach Galifianakis and retired boxer Mike Tyson to help them piece together the events of the previous evening, original Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury confesses he hid the Cup on the roof of T-Mobile Arena as a practical joke.
June 25, 2029: Upon retiring at the end of the 2028-29 season, Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron immediately takes over as coach of the Bruins for 2029-30. In his first season, he leads the Bruins to the lowest goals-against total in the League, a first-place finish in the Eastern Conference and a Stanley Cup title.
Sept. 15, 2032: The NHL reunites Team North America for the 16-year anniversary of their foray into the World Cup of Hockey, with all players now under 40 years of age. They take the World Cup by storm and, in a stirring finale, beat their old nemesis, Russia, to win the title. McDavid and Auston Matthews are named co-MVPs of the tournament; they simultaneously retire from hockey, declaring that despite having captured four Stanley Cups between them, this was their crowning achievement.

June 20, 2036:The Stockholm Skaters of the NHL's European Division, with the No. 1 pick of the 2036 NHL Draft, select Neal Johnson, who was born in Las Vegas the day of the Golden Knights' inaugural home game.
May 31, 2039: Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, chosen No. 1 in the 2018 NHL Draft, retires after 21 NHL seasons. He's the all-time leader among Sweden-born NHL defensemen in points and games played, passing Hockey Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom. Dahlin also won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman on four occasions. He's inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2042.
Oct. 4, 2055:The Nashville Predators, playing in what has become the fourth-largest market in the United States, play their first game at Bridgestone Stadium, their new 40,000-seat home. Taking advantage of state-of-the-art ice-making technology, the stadium features a retractable roof so Predators can play outdoor games whenever they wish.

June 15, 2078: The Los Angeles Kings make history when they become the first team to select a China-born player with the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft. He goes on to score the winning goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Linkoping Lions, the NHL International Conference winner.
Jan. 15, 2082: Gretzky's scoring record of 2,857 points, which seemed unbreakable for decades when he had more assists (1,963) than anyone else had points, is broken in an unprecedented era of offense for the NHL.
Oct. 10, 2092: A woman appears in an NHL regular-season game as a goaltender, 100 years after Manon Rheaume played goaltender for the Tampa Bay Lightning and became the first to play in NHL preseason game.
Oct. 4, 2117: The NHL Global Series proves a renewed hit and, by 2117, the NHL has visited 100 new countries, playing regular-season games as far away as Australia. The highlight of the 2028 Global Games in Sydney comes when Australian ambassador to the United States Joe Hockey gives tours, drops the ceremonial first puck, sings the national anthem, and serves as the emergency backup goaltender for the Los Angeles Kings.
Dec. 19, 2117: On the 200th anniversary of the first NHL games ever played, the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators face off at Lansdowne Park amid a light snowfall.