To be fair, being fast isn't much of an identity. And certainly not one that's viable year after year.
I don't think the identity has to be anything in particular, it's the advantage of having everyone on the team knowing exactly what they're trying to do. When we knew our identity was pace and pressure everywhere into the playoffs in 2016, whenever there was a 50 50 play we knew we had to make the aggressive play and then whoever was in support would know that they would do that and make the correct support play. It was easier to work on details because we consistently made the right plays. It also brought us together as a team, it was tangible how confident we were and how much everyone was playing for each other. It also worked well for GMJR cause he had more purpose in his trading.
It was the biggest thing in 2009 too. We knew we could grind a team down over 7 games and we would win more games late in the series because their D would be tired from all the hitting and chasing pucks. That gave us confidence and purpose and brought the team together. We didn't have the best roster, but we had the clearest identity.
I honestly don't know what our identity should be considering our roster. Playing really aggressively helped us shield our defensemen from getting ground down but I don't think our forwards are built for that as much as they were back then and everyone is 2 years older. Our D corps is a bit ...uh... mixed, so I don't know if they can handle a more purposeful possession game like Chicago used to. Making multiple passes in the neutral zone isn't something we've been great at. Johnson certainly isn't built for that game, it might suit Maatta more though. Playing like Washington did last year might work? Crushing the neutral zone and counter attacking. Would help to reduce chances against and we have the horses to get the early and easy goals that you need to pull it off, plus we have probably the best 3 centre combo if we're healthy.
Whatever it is, we need to commit to it and make a few trades to fit to it better - the problem in my mind is that it's going to be hard to get our guys to commit to anything less offensively oriented considering how much success we had previously and how much less fun it must be to play the slow down game.