Bieksa is right on when he says the Flames identity was historically that of a hard nosed/gritty/physical team. It was this way for a few decades after the glory years of the 80's.
It was one of the reasons I became a Flames fan.I loved a tough team and we had it in spades for two decades.A team that would fight and stand up for one another. I loved the work ethic of the Brian Sutter years, and all though they never made the playoffs there were undoubtedly other factors at play (Canadian $).
We see how much this style pays off in the playoffs. What I would give up for a Tom Wilson or even a Garnet Hathaway/Gallagher/Lowry type player to mix in with the flames current skill group.
This current iteration DID carve out a bit of an identity last playoffs, but so far this year they haven't captured that. That's the key...to bring that team to the regular season.
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