Take Town: Blues Christmas without you

When I talked last week about teams whose coaches were on the hot seat, there wasn't much thought about Craig Berube getting canned.

A week later, all the other hot-seat candidates except the one in Ottawa have seen their seats cool. The New York Islanders currently sit second in the Metro, and the Pittsburgh Penguins coach recently got a vote of confidence from his GM.

Now, the thing to say about "what changed in the past week?" is that the Blues lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago, and Detroit Red Wings — no one's idea of a tough set of games — by a combined score of 14-7. Something had to give.

In booting the only guy who ever made him look especially good at roster construction, it has been widely acknowledged that GM Doug Armstrong is the reason they're in this mess. The defensive