Wow, it still feels so early, but Jennifer Kirk has posted some predictions for the upcoming Grand Prix season on her True/Slant blog. Some of her interesting predictions:
-Sasha Cohen will have to land a triple/triple in order to win a Grand Prix. Considering she is going up against Korea's Yu-na Kim in both of her Grand Prix events (not to mention the other competition), I'll go ahead and agree. However, Kirk also says, "If Cohen doesn’t medal her events and fails to earn herself a spot in December’s Grand Prix Final, I don’t see her sticking the rest of the season out." Not sure if I'm with her on that one - but maybe I'm starting out from a more pessimistic place. I don't think Cohen has much of a chance of winning the Olympics and I think the most she could hope for is a silver or a bronze, considering who else is out there right now and what they're doing. I think she really wants to go back to the Olympics no matter what, and if she is competitive enough to make the U.S. team (regardless of how she measures up against the other nations' competitors) she'll try to make it. But I guess we'll see.
-Kirk predicts Johnny Weir will come in second to Evgeny Plushenko at the Roselcom Cup in Moscow. I say, never underestimate Patrick Chan. It may be difficult for him to beat a well-trained Plushenko who is throwing quads, but after last season, I can definitely see him coming in at least second in that event.
-She predicts that Evan Lysacek will win both his Grand Prix events. I wouldn't be surprised if this happened.
-Kirk also points out some important things to watch for in the Grand Prix season, particularly Patrick Chan's success with the quad, and the scores for Mao Asada's new triple axel combo, as well as comeback kids, including China's Shen and Zhao.