Nobody said that now did they?
Actually, you did exactly that. You said that placing blame on the players is a cop out.
You really should watch that play again. Who was the guy who scored the goal in that same game that 98% of the rest of the league would not have scored?
Scoring a highlight reel goal does not excuse missing an absolute gift. He absolutely has to score that. You rarely get chances that wide open in the playoffs, and if you want to win you better put them away.
Yep. A GM goes out and makes a trade. It doesn't work because the guy doesn't perform. The GM is not accountable whatsoever.
What exactly is your point here? Armstrong has gotten lambasted on these boards for that trade. I can at least commend him for attempting to make the team better instead of sitting on his hands and doing nothing.
If the coaching staff didn't adjust why bring back the 3 guys who have been here the longest? Whose decision is that?
So you would fire Ken Hitchcock after last year's playoffs? There's not a smart GM in the league that would have done that. In case you missed it, Gary Angew is gone. Care to guess who ran the powerplay? Hitch has been put on notice. He's on a one year deal, and this is make or break for him. Who exactly would you replace him with?
Why deny it? Just throw it on the players.
The players are just as accountable as the coaching staff and management. For all our complaining about Armstrong, this team was up 2-0 on the Hawks. If you're good enough to win the first 2 games, you are good enough to win 2 of the next four. They players deserve to get called on their inability to go for the kill.
Again; where did anyone say it was entirely on him? What are you doing? Deflecting all blame from him.
You did by acting like the players and coaching staff weren't responsible at all, and that it was entirely on Armstrong because, in some apparently alternate universe, the GM controls every single little thing that happens.
See a pattern here? 2 years in a row losing 4 staright after being up 2-0. What did the GM do the first time? How many times does it take something like that to happen to have the GM make an adjustment?
Have you even bothered to read this board before you make ridiculous posts? Armstrong has gotten absolutely raked over the coals on this very point since we got knocked out.
He had plenty of prospects, all their 1st round picks, traded veterans for extra picks.
Picks are assets. He has traded 3 first rd picks. What do we still have to show for them? Jay Bo.
Poor asset managament from the GM.
Do you expect every single move a GM makes to work out? That's totally unrealistic. He didn't have plenty of prospects. Our pool has never been that deep. We've had some top notch prospects, and they don't stay prospects long because we promote them quickly. Complaining about the first in the EJ trade is pointless. We still got Rattie out of that draft, and he was a first round talent. Anybody who complains about the Bouwmeester trade is clueless. He's given up exactly one first round pick that people can complain about. That's not some travesty.