What's the Obsession with Scapegoating Brian Pothier?

I'm not exactly sure why it is that so many Caps fans like to scapegoat Brian Pothier.

The Caps chat with Post beat writer Tarik El-Bashir yielded another example:

Round Hill, Va.: In regards to the previous question about Pothier, isn't he protected by the new CBA and that is why he is not being sent down to the Bears?

Tarik El-Bashir: Are serious? The Bears? Pothier is not going anywhere.

Just to clarify Pothier is not "protected by the new CBA". I'm not sure what that means exactly, but unless a player has a no-trade clause they can be traded and unless a player has a no-movement clause they can be sent to the AHL. Verteran players would have to clear waivers first, but they can still be sent down (see: Clymber, Ben).

As Tarik noted elsewhere Pothier, prior to the game against the Hurricanes, Pothier was tied for the team lead in points by a defensemen with nine and actually led the team with a +4 +/- rating.

I don't think Pothier is great by any means. He's a fine depth defenseman and decent guy to have on the point on the second powerplay unit and is a solid NHLer as long as he plays within his abilities, who was overmatched by how much he was asked to do last year.