You know, when he said there would be pain, I'm not sure if he knew what kind it would be. He probably thought years of losing.
To me, I am thinking pain is having rookies come in flying, and then watching their ego's get a bit too big, and when the game tightens up in the playoff race, watching them get their ***** handed to them.
They almost need to miss the playoffs. They need to see this effort won't do, and they aren't as good as they think they are yet. Now, some of this is 100% on the coach, as he hasn't changed the lines at all this year, and scratches weird players as well.
Time for them to lick their wounds. The key to being a good team is knowing that you are good, but any team can feed you your lunch any night. This is why guys with 3 cups are busting their ***** in Chicago right now when they don't have too.
I'm not sure how this will work, but Babcock is at fault for us missing the playoffs just as much as the team with his bad line choices, and bad decisions in OT and the shootout.