There is a difference between "truculence" (and trying to build a team that fits that description) and having a guy who will stand up when someone needs to stand up and keep people in line. The former is an outdated concept in today's NHL (do you think that the real contenders in this league worry about being tough enough or just about putting pucks in the net?), while the latter is absolutely essential.
The problem with the Flames is that we keep trying to do the former and yet still haven't addressed the latter. Fill a team with at least three lines of skilled guys who can put the puck in the net (we are presently missing one of those lines), and have a guy on the back end who can thump you if he needs to so that people don't take liberties with your top performers.
And fix the ####ing power play. How a team can have a player like Johnny Gaudreau (who literally creates space with his speed and stickhandling) on the man advantage and can still be 4th worst team in the NHL on the PP is still just incredible to me. How many coaches would LOVE an asset like that on special teams and we can't figure out what to do with him.
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