Montreal and Columbus seem to have switched places. Heading into last season, the Jackets were expected to be in contention for the top pick and Montreal was hoping Price would be back early enough to get them in wild card contention. Instead, Montreal went off the rails immediately and never got back on, while Columbus surprised and while they were never truly in playoff contention, they scored enough goals to give people a sliver of hope through mid-season, before ultimately finishing in the top half of the non-playoff teams.
This year, Montreal was expecting more of last year, while Columbus thought that Johnny Gaudreau would put them into the playoff hunt. Instead, Columbus went off the rails immediately and it is Montreal scoring goals left and right, giving that slight hope of sneaking into the playoffs. The most likely scenario in my mind is that Montreal does exactly what Columbus did last year and finishes in the top half of the non-playoff teams.