Confirmed Trade: [CGY/EDM] James Neal for Milan Lucic (12.5% retained) and a 2020 conditional 3rd round pick Part 3

[LT]

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[Mr Tadakichi]

DUDE WEED LMAO

 

[BakedYams]

Calgary gets an immovable penalty magnet.
Edmonton gets a chance at a scoring winger, and the flexibility of buying him out/demoting him/trading him if he doesn't work out.

 

[Bond]

Sure seems like a bad trade for the Flames. Thought I would sleep on it and maybe like it but still sucks

 

[Ronnie Residue]

I really thought Lucic was unmovable.
Congrats Oiler fans, you can actually feel good about a trade lol
I could see Neal bouncing back a little bit. Not completely, but I can’t see him being as close to bad as Lucic next season.

 

[Nanuuk]

Wow. All the posts already. I haven't read them all but I imagine there are more than enough "our side won, you got a boat anchor" style comments.

As a Calgary fan, I would have preferred to keep Neal as I think he will have a bounce back season. Having said that Lucic brings a different element to the game and that is toughness - something that Calgary needs. He is also a better defensive player. Calgary scored a lot last season without Neal's help so if Lucic can beat that output we're already ahead.

 

[CascadiaPuck]

Lucic + Not Canucks = Phew

That is all.

 

[DFC]

I just do not get this from the Flames' side. As bad as Neal was, couldn't they have just dumped the contract to someone for an asset? Taking on a worse asset, and one far less likely to rebound, seems very odd to me. I don't get it at all.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Lucic's contract is pure garbage and the player is a 4th liner at best now....can't skate, can't score and barely intimidates

Neal is a volume shooter, can play up and down the line-up, is friends with Connor, and has a better chance to recover...
and best of all his contract can be bought out, he can be traded to anyone, or buried in the minors...plus doesn't need to be protected in the expansion draft

clear win for the Oilers

 

[Snakepit]

Calgary brought on a big pile of crap but had to give up a big pile of crap to get it.

There must have been truth to the rumours of Neal being a problem in the room and with the coaches for them to swap him out in a deal like this

 

[mouz135]

It’s shameful how many fans I’ve seen use the all star game as a “look, see, Neal played well with McBaby at the all star game, that will surely translate to regular season greatness! Stanley Cup here we come!”

L oh f***ing L

 

[Cup or Bust]

Lucic's contract is pure garbage and the player is a 4th liner at best now....can't skate, can't score and barely intimidates

Neal is a volume shooter, can play up and down the line-up, is friends with Connor, and has a better chance to recover...
and best of all his contract can be bought out, he can be traded to anyone, or buried in the minors...plus doesn't need to be protected in the expansion draft

clear win for the Oilers

Yeah it's a great move for the Oilers to rid themselves of that contract. Not sure why any team would take that contract on at this point considering how ineffective Lucic has become. Lucic is Calgary's problem now, a very unfortunate one for them. Not often a team trades a bad contract for a far worse one.

 

[Baxterman]

I just do not get this from the Flames' side. As bad as Neal was, couldn't they have just dumped the contract to someone for an asset? Taking on a worse asset, and one far less likely to rebound, seems very odd to me. I don't get it at all.

No

Neal sucked they have been trying to move him for awhile and not a single team would come close to taking him. The only way to move Neal was to move him for another god awful contract. Both players and their contracts had zero value.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Lucic still hits like a truck and scares the shit out of players.

It's his puck skills and confidence that deteriorated.

 

[ottomaddox]

Is this true?

 

[DomBarr]

Lucic's contract is pure garbage and the player is a 4th liner at best now....can't skate, can't score and barely intimidates

Neal is a volume shooter, can play up and down the line-up, is friends with Connor, and has a better chance to recover...
and best of all his contract can be bought out, he can be traded to anyone, or buried in the minors...plus doesn't need to be protected in the expansion draft

clear win for the Oilers

Neal can't play up and down the lineup though once he gets to the bottom 6 his on ice value to the team goes way way down. He is a complementary sniper that needs skill to set up the play. If he plays and can stick in the top 6 in Edmonton AND last year was an outlier as opposed to regression for shooting percentage there should be a rebound but if he can't stick in the top 6 he has less on ice value than Lucic.

That said Edmonton still wins based on the off ice contractual stuff

 

[Snakepit]

Is this true?

It is.

Neal was a healthy scratch for the biggest game of the year. That's the quality of player we're talking about here

 

[cheechoo]

(taken from another forum)

Flames (14 forwards with 200+ minutes)

James Neal was
12th in CF%
13th in SF%
13th in GF%
13th in xGF%
13th in SCF%
12th in HDCF%
5th in offensive zone starts


Oilers (15 forwards with 200+ minutes)

Milan Lucic was
4th in CF%
5th in SF%
7th in GF%
3rd in xGF%
4th in SCF%
4th in HDCF%
12th in offensive zone starts

Kind of digging this trade the more I mull over it. A 107 point team just traded their worst performing forward, burn the town down. Lucic is tougher, neither can skate. I hope Lucic can control the cycle? Because that's a dynamic that has been sorely lacking in Calgary asides from when Tkachuk is on the ice.

BT just needs to get another top 6 forward. Kadri would have been creme.

 

[booyakasha]

Flames fans this morning....

 

[booyakasha]

Oilers fans this morning...

 

[cheechoo]

Flames fans this morning....

Kinggggggggg. I need to pick this show back up smh.

 

[DFC]

No

Neal sucked they have been trying to move him for awhile and not a single team would come close to taking him. The only way to move Neal was to move him for another god awful contract. Both players and their contracts had zero value.

Yeah... Lucic's seems way worse though.

 

[ElysiumAB]

Lucic brings a different element to the game and that is toughness...

Who's going to tell him?

 

[Baxterman]

Yeah... Lucic's seems way worse though.

Lucic's deal is worse, not way because Neals is so bad, but that doesn't change the fact that nobody wanted Neal at all.

 

[Snakepit]

Yeah... Lucic's seems way worse though.

If it wasn't for the way it was structured I'd take the 5.25 to have Lucic over the 6.5 to have Neal

But obviously the structure of Lucic's deal and the unknown factor of the NMC tilts that back a bit for sure