He is right - this team is soft. Rinaldo, Ritchie and Robinson, while technically on the team, are not guys that have been playing and that you can count on to play regularly. Sure, if certain games get really physical, the Flame can insert those guys into the lineup and there isn't a team in the NHL that I think could match that toughness, but this is and has been a very soft team for a number of years now.
So what do you do about it? Flames have tried to address this organizationally for a very long time now. I don't believe that the Flames wanted to part with Ferland, but had to as Carolina was also looking for toughness. Tough guys that can play are expensive. Sure, you can get the Haleys of the league, but they aren't going to factor into games unless there is an expectation that the next game is going to be rough, and you insert that player for that purposes, while fully understanding that he might end up costing you the game anyway.
These are the prospects that the Flames drafted that fill that 'hard to play against' hole (excluding Tkachuk and Bennett, who are those types and who are on the team).
Martin Pospisil - still in the system
Zach Fischer - gone
Riley Bruce - "" ""
Eetu Tuulola - In the system
Hunter Smith - gone
Austin Carroll - gone
Keegan Kanzig - gone
Tim Harrison - gone
Rushan Rafikov - Flames still own his rights - plays with an edge
Patrick Sieloff - gone
There really isn't much in the pipeline.
Oilers have Kassian and Nurse to stick up for them. While I think they are both playing way over their heads, they are playable.
However, it isn't so bad. Flames aren't a tough team. They are a skilled team. That's the way they were trending under Hartley, and it was Hartley that started not playing guys like McGrattan. He wanted a fast and disciplined team.
When we talk about identities, how about giving us some labels first. Sure, the Flames aren't that 'rough team that is hard to play against physically', but what other labels are there when we talk about identities?
"Tough Team"
"Offensive Team"
"Defensive Team (trap team)"
"Speed team"??
"Slow Team"??
I mean, how else do you break down teams into identities? This is when I feel this talk about identities is overblown. Know what identity I want the Flames to be? That Stanley Cup winning team - it could beat you with skill, or it could beat you physically. When it felt like it, it beat you both ways. That's what I want the Flames to be like. Whatever you call that identity.
It is difficult to get skilled players who can skate and who are tough. Look how much Montreal spent on acquiring one, and look how much they had to sign him for. There aren't many players around the NHL that are both. That's why Lucic isn't going to be benched. That's why they bring guys like Rinaldo and Ritchie into the organization - because otherwise, this team would get manhandled when games got chippy. That's why Brad went out and picked up Ritchie just in case these 10 game battles get really nasty with some teams.
Right now, there isn't a team that the Flames will lose against on the 'toughness' stage, as long as all their size dresses that game. Makes it tougher for them to win games, however.
The only label I can give the Flames is stuff like: "Skilled but inconsistent". I will be happy with "Skilled and consistent". How do you get there, I don't know, but I don't think you need to turn your team into a 'tough team' to do it. That's just one of the ways. There are a lot of teams that are fairly physically weak. That's ok too, as long as they play well and don't succumb to the intimidation and physicality that other teams bring.
Bieksa brings up an interesting observation that I think most people have paid attention to as Flames fans. However, is it really important? Are teams really able to be grouped together under 4 or 5 real labels? I don't think so really. Was Pittsburgh a 'tough team' when they won? Nope. Were they a skilled team? With the exception of Crosby, Malkin and Letang, not really... the rest of their players didn't have too much skill IMO to be labelled that. Or maybe that is enough for them to be labelled as such - I don't know.
All I know is that big, physical tough players who are fast and who can skate are about as difficult to acquire now as first line centres it seems, and when you can acquire them, they are usually at the end of their 'window' (which are usually shorter because of how hard the game is on their bodies).
Iginla was the anomaly in the NHL - skilled, tough, fast, and helluva resilient. I am still not convinced he was human.
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