The yelps began long before Game 6 of the Penguins' first-round playoff series against the Islanders -- and with it, the Penguins' season -- was over.
The Penguins, multitudes outside of the organization insisted, had to make a change with their goaltending.
Well, Wednesday, they finally did.
It wasn't the one many expected -- most of the cries had been for Tristan Jarry to be replaced as the No. 1 guy -- but that doesn't mean it was wrong.
Indeed, while it might not be fair to scapegoat Mike Buckley for all of the Penguins' goaltending issues during his four seasons as goalie coach, it wouldn't be right to absolve him of much of the responsibility for them.
It took a while, but Ron Hextall obviously came to that conclusion, firing Buckley and replacing him with former Penguins goalie Andy Chiodo, who had been serving as the team's goaltending development coach.
How Chiodo will fare in his new role is impossible to predict, although his work to this point suggests that there's a good chance he will thrive in it.
More importantly, his ascension to the position gives cause to believe that the Penguins' goaltenders, whoever they turn out to be in 2021-22, will have a reasonable opportunity to do the same.
Mind you, when Buckley was promoted to replace Mike Bales in 2017, there was reason to think that he would be able to make the goalies perform to their considerable potential, too.
After all, he had done some quality work with the Penguins' goalie prospects in Wilkes-Barre, and his strong relationship with Matt Murray -- who had just helped the Penguins win their second consecutive Stanley Cup -- appeared to be a major factor in Jim Rutherford's decision to add him to Mike Sullivan's staff.
A logical move, perhaps, but not a wise one, as it turned out.
Year-to-year comparisons of statistics can be misleading -- or worse -- because no season is precisely like another. Some of the players working in front of a goalie change. Systems get tweaked. Injuries that affect performance happen.
Still, it remains that Murray's numbers in his first full season as the Penguins' go-to goalie -- the one in which he was being coached by Bales -- were decidedly better than in the three that followed:
2016-17 -- 2.41 goals against average, .923 save percentage in 49 games.
2017-18 -- 2.92, .907 in 49.
2018-19 -- 2.69, .919 in 50.
2019-20 -- 2.87, .899 in 38.
Murray's regression led to him being traded to Ottawa after the Penguins' upset loss to Montreal in the qualifying round of the 2020 postseason.
Murray actually was benched for the final game of the Canadiens series, replaced by Jarry.
Jarry acquitted himself well in that game and, after a stumbling start to the 2020-21 regular season, got his game in order and played well for most of the rest of the season.
He sputtered at times during the stretch drive, though, and then all but unraveled during the Islanders series.
Jarry rebounded nicely from a poor showing in Game 1, but was guilty of a ghastly giveaway that led directly to New York's overtime winner in Game 5 and had a flat-out miserable showing in the series finale.
So, is Buckley to blame for all of the troubles Murray and Jarry had during his tenure as goalie coach?
Hardly. Individuals have to bear the majority of accountability for their play, and both Murray and Jarry showed they were capable of performing at higher levels than they reached much of the time.
Buckley, though, rarely seemed to come up with a way to get the goalies out of whatever rut they happened to slip into, whether it was Murray's slow-motion glove hand or the propensity he and Jarry have to play too deep in the crease at times.
While analyzing the nuances of a goaltender's game is best left to someone who makes a living at it, some flaws are painfully apparent to anyone who bothers looking.
And when those problems don't get corrected, for whatever reason, it's time to give someone else a chance to try.
The only surprise in this case is that the switch to Chiodo took so long to happen, and that it came after everyone with an opinion that matters -- Hextall and Sullivan and president of hockey operations Brian Burke -- has offered full-throated endorsements of Buckley's work.
What convinced Hextall to change his mind isn't known, and might never be.
The significant thing is that the move ultimately was made, as it should have been.
That doesn't mean all of the Penguins' goaltending questions have been answered, that Jarry's career trajectory will return to its previous path. Or even that the front office still is certain that Jarry is a goalie with whom a team can win a Cup.
Sure, that's been management's public position -- one repeated at every opportunity -- but replacing Buckley after praising him for most of the summer proves that opinions can change.
In a couple of months, we will start to find out if the results will, too.
