Are the Flames Overrated? (Warning: Post 75 & OP)

[tmurfin]

he was such a bad distraction, the Flames had their best regular season in decades

Such a bad distraction we traded him for a 4th liner, thanks for coming out though.

No it couldn’t be contributed to multiple career/breakout years, a Norris D man season, Lindholm turning into a bonafide top liner, no, it was James Neal, on the 3rd/4th line, you got it figured.

 

[tmurfin]

It is 100% amusing watching the heel turn of Oilers fans who were happy to laugh it up when Neal was completely checked out and ****ting the bed in every situation last year, only to now praise him for his leadership and his drive now that he's feeding off McDavid.

When he goes cold, I hope you remember to pat him on the back for the good work he did for 8 games.

How are the Flames going to recover from the leadership they lost

 

[Snakepit]

Meanwhile, the Flames PP is soo good that you guys couldn't fit Neal on it last year, yet the entire team combined for half of Neal's goals on PP.

Neal on the PP was a hot mess last year. Nothing to do with fitting him in or not, he managed to just flub passes into the corner and cause turnovers

 

[JPeeper]

Maybe if Neal was put on the top line he would have had 80 points

Neal has been better than Linhdolm his entire career. Including coming off of 25 and 23 goal campaigns (plus 2 cup runs). Maybe he should have gotten the top line butter minutes

Neal and Lindholm are now both getting those type of minutes and Neal is looking better. So who knows, maybe last year Neal would have been even better in those minutes

Lindholm is 10x the player Neal is.

A) he takes faceoffs
B) is a defensive stud
C) kills penalties
D) actually competes
E) hits
F) is a +
G) scores even strength goals
H) more assists
I) better contract
J) actually has a shot unlike James "only score PPG from McDavid and Drai by the crease" Neal
Bonus:
K) is more handsome


I guarantee Lindholm at the seasons end will have more points than Neal by more than 20.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Lindholm is 10x the player Neal is.

A) he takes faceoffs
B) is a defensive stud
C) kills penalties
D) actually competes
E) hits
F) is a +
G) scores even strength goals
H) more assists
I) better contract
J) actually has a shot unlike James "only score PPG from McDavid and Drai by the crease" Neal
Bonus:
K) is more handsome


I guarantee Lindholm at the seasons end will have more points than Neal by more than 20.

I would like to point out Neal has more hits than Lindholm, also only has 1 more even strength goal than Neal.

 

[DirtDiver]

Maybe if Neal was put on the top line he would have had 80 points

Neal has been better than Linhdolm his entire career. Including coming off of 25 and 23 goal campaigns (plus 2 cup runs). Maybe he should have gotten the top line butter minutes

Neal and Lindholm are now both getting those type of minutes and Neal is looking better. So who knows, maybe last year Neal would have been even better in those minutes

There is a very good reason why Neal is good on the oilers and not the flames. Neal is good in front of the net. Oilers needed a guy like this and the flames have better guys that do the same thing he does. We didnt need a guy that can only shoot the puck. We need hockey players. Oilers were in despereate need of a guy who could stand there and wait for the puck and put it in.

Monahan is the shooter on the first line who stands close to the front of the net. No need for someone else who can only do that on his line.

Tkachuk is a net front monster who is elite with his tip ins. WTF is the one trick pony to do on this line if he cant stand in front of the net?

So when you are on a team that has players that are better at hockey who do the same thing you do you get demoted and pout. The oilers lack talent of everykind except for the 3 nhl lvl players that they have and none of those guys are net front guys. That is a perfect fit for them.

Neal never had a chance on the flames as we have players that are better at hockey who could do the same thing he does. Some players just wont fit on some teams as neal has shown in calgary.

 

[valet]

my only real criticism of the flames this year is how they're trying to spin the lucic-neal trade as 'mutually beneficial' for both teams. calgary didn't need toughness, they were already a pretty hard nosed team. meanwhile, lucic still can't score and neal is having the start of his life in edmonton.

lucic has fought twice. big whoop. literally any idiot can go out there and try to fight guys. lucic sucks. neal is good. calgary lost the trade by a mile. i rest my case

the flames are still one of the best teams in the west

 

[super6646]

my only real criticism of the flames this year is how they're trying to spin the lucic-neal trade as 'mutually beneficial' for both teams. calgary didn't need toughness, they were already a pretty hard nosed team. meanwhile, lucic still can't score and neal is having the start of his life in edmonton.

lucic has fought twice. big whoop. literally any idiot can go out there and try to fight guys. lucic sucks. neal is good. calgary lost the trade by a mile. i rest my case

Most fans will always spin things to try and make it look better when their team makes a poor trade. It was godawful from day 1, and anyone without their homer glasses on saw that.

 

[vanarchy]

A) he takes faceoffs
B) is a defensive stud
C) kills penalties
D) actually competes
E) hits
F) is a +
G) scores even strength goals
H) more assists
I) better contract
J) actually has a shot unlike James "only score PPG from McDavid and Drai by the crease" Neal
Bonus:
K) is more handsome


I guarantee Lindholm at the seasons end will have more points than Neal by more than 20.

I think K) really sent it home for me.

 

[McDavidCrushedLarkin]

Came to see crying and sour grapes about Neal, wasn't disappointed.

 

[Todd from Leduc]

I think K) really sent it home for me.

Neal is hot as Frig, 10x more than Lindholm and Quasi Lucic.

 

[Snowpants]

It is 100% amusing watching the heel turn of Oilers fans who were happy to laugh it up when Neal was completely checked out and ****ting the bed in every situation last year, only to now praise him for his leadership and his drive now that he's feeding off McDavid.

When he goes cold, I hope you remember to pat him on the back for the good work he did for 8 games.

At least Neal will have been HOT some time this year! Unless you count Luc fighting as being productive (oh wait Flames fans do...)

 

[GoldOnGold]

I posted an explanation on this a while back in the James Neal 40+ goal thread:

Every team that has kept him have liked him. It's got to do with the up-coming talent on their rosters that kept them from keeping him :

-Dallas needed defence and had Benn
-Pittsburgh had Kessel/Letang to keep and needed 3rd line scoring/checking in Hornqvist
-Nashville needed to give up one of their younger forwards or give up Neal and felt giving up Neal was better for them than lose one of their younger guys as he was expendable with a loaded Top 6 already
-Vegas needed to resign all their players and didn't have the cap room to keep him in as well
-Flames were utilizing him into a 3rd line checker when he's a Top 6 scorer and played with guys like Bennett and Jankowski which isn't helping him at all

I'd say out of all those teams, the Flames were the only ones who wanted to 'get rid' of him.

Preds actually tried very hard to keep Neal at the expansion draft, but McPhee wanted a ton to pick someone else. I remember Poile being pretty mad about it.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Such a bad distraction we traded him for a 4th liner, thanks for coming out though.

No it couldn’t be contributed to multiple career/breakout years, a Norris D man season, Lindholm turning into a bonafide top liner, no, it was James Neal, on the 3rd/4th line, you got it figured.

No it shows Neal wasn’t much of distraction..just a narrative Flames fan like to peddle in order justify the trade a bit

 

[Paralyzer]

Preds actually tried very hard to keep Neal at the expansion draft, but McPhee wanted a ton to pick someone else. I remember Poile being pretty mad about it.

Oh I am sure they did. This is why people will spin whatever tale they want you to believe ie. Neal is cancer and garbage of a player.

 

[thaman8765678]

my only real criticism of the flames this year is how they're trying to spin the lucic-neal trade as 'mutually beneficial' for both teams. calgary didn't need toughness, they were already a pretty hard nosed team. meanwhile, lucic still can't score and neal is having the start of his life in edmonton.

lucic has fought twice. big whoop. literally any idiot can go out there and try to fight guys. lucic sucks. neal is good. calgary lost the trade by a mile. i rest my case

the flames are still one of the best teams in the west

We did need toughness, got pushed around physically and bullied in the playoffs, minus Bennett.

But I'm not going to spin the trade, Lucic was and still is awful. Not all Flames fans defend the trade, I hated Neal on the team last year but he still should have been worth alot more than Lucic. Was and still is a bad trade from an overrated gm.

 

[Snakepit]

Agreed. As a Flames fan I'd say losing Neal is no loss at all, but adding Lucic was really dumb. Even though Lucic is no worse as a Flame so far than Neal was, you still helped your biggest rival

 

[Shibumi]

I need Lucic to score five goals by the end of the month.

Which Month?

 

[I am the Liquor]

Which Month?

This month?

 

[Shibumi]

This month?

Two weeks left in the month at this point, I would guess Lucic is going to be hard pressed to get that many by the end of next month. Good luck though.

 

[tmurfin]

No it shows Neal wasn’t much of distraction..just a narrative Flames fan like to peddle in order justify the trade a bit

They literally traded him for Lucic, no one else wanted him. LUCIC was all they could get, that speaks for itself as to how the organization felt about him.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

They literally traded him for Lucic, no one else wanted him. LUCIC was all they could get, that speaks for itself as to how the organization felt about him.

probably cause he wanted out and asked for a trade, much like Lucic did

hey, it's working out for us...another point (ES) tonight for him and is extremely dangerous on the PP

 

[Kale Hulls]

Unsustainable shooting percentage last season imo.