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Confirmed with Link: Dallas trades James Neal and Matt Niskanen to Penguins for Alex Goligoski.

Octavio

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Mar 24, 2011
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Alex Goligoski

I've only been following the Stars since January when I first moved here. I've been able to catch most games they've played since then (was able to go to 4 this season) but I'm still trying to grasp what this team is all about.

I must say though, the acquisition of Alex Goligoski was a great move for the team and he has been money in the games he's played here. He's 25, he's fast, he has great instincts and 10 points in 14 games is indicative of that. In terms of the player he could become and the value of a good breakout D-man that can move the puck well, that is a hot commodity in this league.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv5u0Rq9CRo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_mPKuUdyNs&feature=fvwkrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EhepAt3F5g&feature=related

Can't say much about what I think the team will do this year, but you gotta love this dude after it's been a while since the deal.
 
Ambassador Of Fun

Ambassador Of Fun

Registered User
Jun 23, 2010
2,780
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This trade, while I love it for beyond this season, kinda has our forward lines in shambles. That might just be because Richards has been terrible since coming back from injury or that no lines have been able to stay in tact. The second part I guess could also be blamed on injuries or on Crawford, but our offense has been almost exclusively Jamie Benn, Mike Ribeiro, and Goligoski since the trade.
 

MetalGodAOD*

Guest
Loui and Richards never needed Benn before, I wouldn't attribute their current ****tiness to lack of a LW.
 
Malkin4Top6Wingerz

Malkin4Top6Wingerz

Can you like, shutup
Mar 14, 2009
5,032
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UnholyPrince said:
http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=894056&page=7

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=896868

Would just like to point out how fun these threads are to read.

Something to brighten the day maybe. As much crap as people have given GMJN, his trades and FA signings have worked out quite well. Coaching decisions? Not so much.
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Do you really feel joy seeing a couple players the Stars traded away are struggling? That seems a little odd to me. Personally, I want Goligoski to do well in Dallas and hope that the trade works out for both parties. I understand that neither side wants to be considered the one that loses the trade, but I got the impression that Neal was rather well liked by the fans in Dallas. I know that I wouldn't want to see a former Pen that I liked do poorly after being traded. A whipping boy like Niskanen? I can totally get that. Just not Neal, unless perhaps his recent slump before being traded got him in the doghouse of Stars fans.
 
Chaos

Chaos

And the winner is...
Sep 2, 2003
7,968
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Malkin4Top6Wingerz said:
Do you really feel joy seeing a couple players the Stars traded away are struggling? That seems a little odd to me. Personally, I want Goligoski to do well in Dallas and hope that the trade works out for both parties. I understand that neither side wants to be considered the one that loses the trade, but I got the impression that Neal was rather well liked by the fans in Dallas. I know that I wouldn't want to see a former Pen that I liked do poorly after being traded. A whipping boy like Niskanen? I can totally get that. Just not Neal, unless perhaps his recent slump before being traded got him in the doghouse of Stars fans.
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I think its more of how the majority of the sheep on HF reacted to the trade, as if the Stars got ripped off(despite most of them not seeing Neal play on a regular basis).

So far, I'd say the Stars have gotten the better end of it. Of course its still far too early to judge the trade entirely. Can Goligoski play like this over an entire season? How much better will Neal be when he's playing with Crosby or Malkin? I happen to think that in the end, this will be one of those rare win-win trades for both sides.
 
StarsFan74

StarsFan74

Registered User
Apr 27, 2010
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Chaos said:
I think its more of how the majority of the sheep on HF reacted to the trade, as if the Stars got ripped off(despite most of them not seeing Neal play on a regular basis).
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You're wrong. All YT videos of Neal indicate his uber-awesomeness.

So far, I'd say the Stars have gotten the better end of it. Of course its still far too early to judge the trade entirely. Can Goligoski play like this over an entire season? How much better will Neal be when he's playing with Crosby or Malkin? I happen to think that in the end, this will be one of those rare win-win trades for both sides.
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I do think that Pittsburgh may edge us a wee bit in the long-run, considering that Neal will be a 30g scorer and Niskanen would actually do moderately well as a no.4/5 d-man playing with a reduced pressure and lowered expectations. However, insinuations that Neal playing with Crosby or Malkin would turn him into a 40-50 goal scorer or Niskanen turning into some offensive juggernaut (probably under the graces of Crosby and Malkin) are quite OTT.
 
BigG44

BigG44

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Jul 12, 2007
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I think Chaos nailed it .... no all .... but definitely quite a few fans were annoyed by the immediate backlash of the trade. HF posters don't bother me, but it was surprising to see so many main stream media types go so negative.

I don't take pleasure in Neal's stat line or play for the Penguins ... he's basically playing like he did did much of his time in Dallas since the suspension. I more enjoy the fact that Goligoski is making the media hoard look like idiots. I'm fine with a win-win trade ... that's what this is turning into.

IMO, I felt Neal was the guy who'd go for defensive help. His trade didn't blindside me. However, I was a surprised it was for Goligoski when it happened. The age difference and the fact he was playing against weaker competition behind a solid Pens D core scared the hell out of me. I think everyone can just be happy with the trade now.

I've seen some Dallas fans say that Neal's removal from the top line in Dallas could be a factor for Richie and Loui's struggles. I just find that far fetched. Neal wasn't contributing much of anything since early in the season. He'd get the occasional goal, but I don't think anyone can argue he was ineffective more often than not recently. The only logical issue with Richie and Loui is their injuries. Health is relative when it comes to a concussion.
 
StarsFan74

StarsFan74

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BigG44 said:
I think Chaos nailed it .... no all .... but definitely quite a few fans were annoyed by the immediate backlash of the trade. HF posters don't bother me, but it was surprising to see so many main stream media types go so negative.

I don't take pleasure in Neal's stat line or play for the Penguins ... he's basically playing like he did did much of his time in Dallas since the suspension. I more enjoy the fact that Goligoski is making the media hoard look like idiots. I'm fine with a win-win trade ... that's what this is turning into.

IMO, I felt Neal was the guy who'd go for defensive help. His trade didn't blindside me. However, I was a surprised it was for Goligoski when it happened. The age difference and the fact he was playing against weaker competition behind a solid Pens D core scared the hell out of me. I think everyone can just be happy with the trade now.

I've seen some Dallas fans say that Neal's removal from the top line in Dallas could be a factor for Richie and Loui's struggles. I just find that far fetched. Neal wasn't contributing much of anything since early in the season. He'd get the occasional goal, but I don't think anyone can argue he was ineffective more often than not recently. The only logical issue with Richie and Loui is their injuries. Health is relative when it comes to a concussion.
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What age-difference? Neal will be 24 in September, Niskanen will be 25 in December, and Goligoski will be 26 in July. Not the kind of age-difference I'd be concerned about.
 
StarsFan74

StarsFan74

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BigG44

BigG44

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Jul 12, 2007
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StarsFan74 said:
What age-difference? Neal will be 24 in September, Niskanen will be 25 in December, and Goligoski will be 26 in July. Not the kind of age-difference I'd be concerned about.
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I don't care about Niskanen in the equation .... That's great Niskanen is playing well right now. He had no future in Dallas. Part of it might have been his inability to live up to high expectations, and part of it was just the overall lack of confidence of the organization in him and Niskanen in himself. His situation is a classic change of scenery move. If he does well great ... if he fails, oh well. This trade is about Neal and Goligoski. Now ... if Nisky becomes a true Top 4 D for the Pens actually producing offensively ... Great ... that's a feather in their cap. Anyone see that happening? Consider the D on that team already .... do you truly believe he's better than them? I don't either. That's not a knock on him, that's the reality of a deep, impressive D corp in Pittsburgh.

I was talking about Goligoski and Neal. 2 years is not negligible ... especially considering they had pretty much the same actual time spent in the NHL.

Defenders do often take longer to develop, but 25 .. almost 26 years old is a pretty scary age, IMO. It seems 50/50 at that point that they could have reached their potential and they are what they are or you get lucky and they're a late, late bloomer. Look at Daley, he's fine at what he does. He's not great, and he's not terrible. That doesn't mean he doesn't have great games and terrible games ... overall though ... he's just OK. For the last 2 or so years, that's been Daley. That's likely what he'll be his entire career.

With Goligoski, his offensive numbers were impressive, but you have to consider he's not getting the tough assignments in Pittsburgh. You have no proof he can take on more responsibility and still produce. Coming to Dallas, you knew Alex's role was going to expand significantly.

Neal was already playing against the best competition 2 years earlier in his development, a plateau Goligoski didn't reach until coming to Dallas. It was an obvious and legitimate concern. Kudos to Dallas' scouting staff, at least so far, for being right about his ability to handle a big role.

Neal was already playing on a #1 line getting 2nd PP time and the occasional shift on the PK. As far as growing your role goes, Goligoski took a massive step in responsibility where as Neal, with a healthy Pens lineup, basically has the same role in Pittsburgh that he has in Dallas.

This seems like a stupid thing to talk about now, but I'm just saying that there were some obvious questions about Goligoski's ability to produce in Dallas at the time of the trade. The media nuts pointed that out .... the thing that is annoying is they totally ignored Neal's question marks ... especially is questionable effort at times the past year and a half.
 

MetalGodAOD*

Guest
Malkin4Top6Wingerz said:
Do you really feel joy seeing a couple players the Stars traded away are struggling? That seems a little odd to me. Personally, I want Goligoski to do well in Dallas and hope that the trade works out for both parties. I understand that neither side wants to be considered the one that loses the trade, but I got the impression that Neal was rather well liked by the fans in Dallas. I know that I wouldn't want to see a former Pen that I liked do poorly after being traded. A whipping boy like Niskanen? I can totally get that. Just not Neal, unless perhaps his recent slump before being traded got him in the doghouse of Stars fans.
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Others have covered it so not much to reply to. But ya, its not about Neal, we still like him and wish him the best. It's more justified to be able to say "I told you so" to the rest of the mass media and HF posters when we were saying how even this trade really is.
 
SprootsMasterFlex

SprootsMasterFlex

Sprootsing 4 Life
Apr 20, 2004
3,638
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glovesave_35 said:
An absurd bump in a number of ways.
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images
 
glovesave_35

glovesave_35

Name
Jan 9, 2007
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Welcome back sproots! I'm not even sure what your point was with all the smilies in reference to the post you quoted. Since you came back, please enlighten us all.
 
piqued

piqued

nos merentur hoc
Nov 22, 2006
32,102
3,147
He's saying that Goligoski is so awesome that only receiving Neal in return (while having to take on Niskanen) was underpayment by Dallas. To make an even trade, Pittsburgh should've gotten both Benn and a draft pick instead.
 
SprootsMasterFlex

SprootsMasterFlex

Sprootsing 4 Life
Apr 20, 2004
3,638
115
Montreal, Quebec
Actually, I was being sarcastic. It was an even trade for both teams however I'm sure most Pens fans would've loved to sweeten the deal a little more on their end so they can have Fistric instead of Nisky.
 
piqued

piqued

nos merentur hoc
Nov 22, 2006
32,102
3,147
This trade makes much more sense to me now (beyond finding out that Goligoski is a really good player) when viewed through the prism of Brad Richards not wanting to be here.

I'm guessing Nieuwendyk was 95% sure Richards was gone, regardless of ownership, when he pulled the trigger. If he knew that top line was going to be broken up no matter what, cashing out on the guy most clearly riding shotgun has a certain logic to it.

I still don't buy for a second that Benn in any way made Neal expendable. In Joe's mind, Benn was always going to gravitate to the pivot. LW is a huge concern now. It's a shell game. We've gone from having 2 major LW assets and spread them out to C and D. That's not a bad thing.
 
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