Stream of consciousness here.
They discussed this team's toughness/killer instinct this morning on the Fan and it got me thinking. Is it really the players that are soft or is this how they're instructed to play? I mean, how many times have we seen players that under usual circumstances would be lining up an opposing player for a hit but then circle away from the hit? Quite often actually. Sure there have been a few good hits the last couple of games, its not totally absent, but it certainly seems like players are shying away from contact to ensure they aren't out of position and in doing so are abandoning chasing the puck or leaving opponents open to make passes because they (Flames) are rushing back to their assigned spot. They're granting lanes.
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