Well, last nights performance showed us something about several players on this team. Mostly a complete lack of character. They confirmed they were laying down, dogging-it, so to speak, for the last several weeks. They decided they weren't going to give it their all. They either decided together or as individuals or maybe even subconsciously. Who knows? What I do know is this same group of players started the season with an impressive record and giving a full effort, even when they weren't executing all that well. We saw that going balls-to-the-wall can overcome some roster deficiencies and execution mistakes. Then, for whatever reason, many decided to play like Berglund and give 60% most of the time. Most would agree it was to get Hitch fired but you can have your own theories. What you can't argue is the effort the first few months of the season and last night was substantially higher than what we saw the last several weeks.

I still don't the Armstrong deserves much of the bashing he is taking. I am more in the camp that thinks this year was intentionally a mini-rebuilding year (with ownership buy-in). I think they still figured to make the playoffs but knew full well, it was going to be impossible to build a Cup winning team for this year. They took a solid run at it last year and could not keep that team together, even if they wanted to due to cap restrictions. Furthermore, that was a 4th place team and they peaked at 4th place. Now it is time to build around Tarasenko, Parayko, Pietrangelo, Schwartz, Fabbri, etc... A few dead weight contracts come due this off-season and there are a few youngsters in the minors that can challenge for some spots. And there is no way DA could have foreseen Allen's meltdown. Even the people that thought they should have kept Elliott over Allen would agree that this level of meltdown was highly unlikely. And finally, if you get rid of Armstrong, who do you get that is better? DA is about a highly regarded as any GM in the NHL.

And I couldn't care less about Bob Plager getting his jersey hoisted. He was an average player at best and probably got to play a few extra years because he was Barclay's brother. If hanging around for 40 or 50 years gets your jersey hoisted, so be it. I don't have anything against the guy (although he is a little on the obnoxious side the few times I've met him). I just couldn't care less if they hoist his jersey or not. Good for him. and if it makes you happy, woo hoo!!