Confirmed Trade: Calgary will receive a 3rd round pick from Edmonton in the Lucic/Neal trade

[DFF]

At least we got rid of Lucic and Neal actually provided value to the club. The real wasted pick was the 4th for 20 minutes of Green.

actually neal provided nothing. you are exactly where you were last year with him. missing the playoffs.

after round 1(year 1), the flames won by TKO. Pay less in salary, got a pick, and have a guy that his teammates and coaches actually like.

now is Neal going to get off the canvas for round 2? i doubt it, his big contribution was in the first 20 games when nobody cared.

 

[McShogun99]

actually neal provided nothing. you are exactly where you were last year with him. missing the playoffs.

after round 1(year 1), the flames won by TKO. Pay less in salary, got a pick, and have a guy that his teammates and coaches actually like.

now is Neal going to get off the canvas for round 2? i doubt it, his big contribution was in the first 20 games when nobody cared.

Neals 19 goals were a big reason why Edmonton was in a playoff spot. He was also very good during these playoffs but for some reason Tippet didn’t want to move him up the lineup.

 

[Keenan87]

Can both sides move on with who won this trade?

Both teams think they got the better player and they are happy. Isn't that the definition of a fair deal?

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

This pick will end up going to Chicago in exchange for Erik Gustafsson.
Calgary keeps their own 3rd.

 

[Nanuuk]

This pick will end up going to Chicago in exchange for Erik Gustafsson.
Calgary keeps their own 3rd.

If the Flames re-sign Gus, and I hope they do, the trade would be Neal for Lucic and Gustafsson. How Swede is that!

I also noted a post game column by Mark Spector at SN lamenting the lack of toughness on the Oiler squad. Seems they could have used Looch as they were a skilled but soft team to play against.

Oilers short on toughness in season-ending loss to Blackhawks - Sportsnet.ca

 

[BurnEmUp]

Looch has been a beast these playoffs, Reider has done well also. Oh, and then there's Talbot with a 0.945 save %.

Plus a 3rd?! Awesome.

 

[DFF]

Can both sides move on with who won this trade?

Both teams think they got the better player and they are happy. Isn't that the definition of a fair deal?

ok, but i just wanted to do a final tally for my oilers friends who were more than eager to claim how the oilers robbed the flames on the deal.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Say what you want about the swap, but Lucic is actually a significant reason why we beat the Jets. That’s more than Neal did for us in an entire season.

 

[GOilers88]

actually neal provided nothing. you are exactly where you were last year with him. missing the playoffs.

after round 1(year 1), the flames won by TKO. Pay less in salary, got a pick, and have a guy that his teammates and coaches actually like.

now is Neal going to get off the canvas for round 2? i doubt it, his big contribution was in the first 20 games when nobody cared.

I get it. In order for you to feel good you have to say that Lucic has been nothing but positive and Neal nothing but negative. Fact is Neal is a contributor to Edmonton being in 2nd in their division at the covid pause. What happened four months and four exhibition games later has no bearing on anything.

Each guy helped their team and each team is happy with the trade. Why does it have to be something more than that?

 

[CraigsList]

Say what you want about the swap, but Lucic is actually a significant reason why we beat the Jets. That’s more than Neal did for us in an entire season.

Yep, Oiler fans can still call it a win in their books and I’ve no problem with that.

Lucic made the Flames a hard team to deal with in the play in series.

Now it’s time to see how we fare against a better team.

 

[DFF]

I get it. In order for you to feel good you have to say that Lucic has been nothing but positive and Neal nothing but negative. Fact is Neal is a contributor to Edmonton being in 2nd in their division at the covid pause. What happened four months and four exhibition games later has no bearing on anything.

Each guy helped their team and each team is happy with the trade. Why does it have to be something more than that?

it's ok. that' s not what most oilers fans were saying before. they wanted flames fans to know who we were robbed.

 

[GOilers88]

it's ok. that' s not what most oilers fans were saying before. they wanted flames fans to know who we were robbed.

"Most Oiler Fans" with a brain acknowledge the swap for what it is. But again let's not pretend that Neal and his new team weren't in 2nd in their division when the season ended. He helped with that, I don't care how streaky he is.

Looch picked a great time to suddenly figure out how to score consistently again, I'll give him that. It baffles me that he couldn't do it with Connor and Leon, but such is life.

Flames keep saying Neal was a terrible fit and did nothing for the team. It was the same with Looch and the Oilers. They're both vastly overpaid players beyond their prime who shouldn't be getting paid what they are. Both GM's are stupid for signing each player to the deals they did.

 

[FerklundCGY]

Milan Lucic has as many points (5) in 5 games these Playoffs as James Neal has in his last 15 Playoff games.

- Plus the Flames got a 3rd.
- Plus the Flames saved $500,000 in cap space.

Lol.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Pretty clear that 2019-20 Neal & Lucic have provided more benefit to their respective current teams than they did for their former ones in 2018-19. Seems like an ideal trade then so I'll say nice job by both these GMs. Still some years left on those deals though.

Again, as much as the conditions weren't met at the time of the ruling, the spirit of those conditions were obviously meant to encompass an entire NHL regular season. So as much as the conditions weren't originally met for the Oilers to compensate the Flames a pick, they weren't technically met for the Oilers not to compensate the Flames a pick either. This was always going to go to arbitration, and the arbiter made a ruling.

 

[kilowatt]

against literally all odds, both teams came out just fine in this trade

lucic isn’t the reason the flames won, neal isn’t the reason the oilers lost, both guys played pretty well and fit in nicely with their respective teams

good work everyone

 

[Nanuuk]

Right now Looch is scoring at a point per game clip. He also won 11 of 16 face-offs last night (who knew he could do that?), played almost 15 minutes and had 3 shots on goal. His presence has allowed youngster Dube to play with 'reckless' abandon and play the body. When Dube cross checked a Star, a dangerous play close to the boards that I don't condone, not a single Star came over to 'chat' with Dube. I can only assume that is because Looch was on the ice. Same goes for Bennett. He bodychecks normally, but has a bit more oomph in them playing with Looch.

Long story short, a great trade for Calgary.

 

[User1996]

Can’t really argue with the results from either player.

Believe it or not it’s possible for both teams to win a trade. Neal probably wouldn’t have done much with Calgary this year and vice versa. Good change of scenery for both and about as good as you can expect when swapping two guys who seemed “over the hill” for lack of a better term

 

[Body Checker]

As a Flames fan I am loving what Looch is currently bringing. But I know that the next full regular season we have it will be painful watching him most nights.

But I have to say that James Neal last yearfor the Flames was some of the worst hockey I ever saw a professional NHL player play since the 90s enforcer era where each team had the no skill goon on their bench that would go out and play one shift to fight the other teams goon.

Good to see that his stats rebounded but overall I don’t think his play improved all that much. A huge defensive liability. I think Oilers should do a buyout as I think the cap hit is not too bad - 1.9 isn’t it?

 

[Rubi]

With the current covid reality the oilers are not going to buy out Neal. Knowledgeable people are predicting the current 81.5m cap will remain close to that for another 2-3 years. Having a $2m cap buyout on the books for the next 6 years would terrible for a team with very little cap room and other less than desirable contracts on the books for those years.

I think we can pretty well agree that the "we can always buy him out" argument is no longer on the table.

 

[FanTheFlames]

But I have to say that James Neal last yearfor the Flames was some of the worst hockey I ever saw a professional NHL player play since the 90s enforcer era where each team had the no skill goon on their bench that would go out and play one shift to fight the other teams goon.

Agreed everytime I saw Neal shoot the puck I cringed because I knew he was just gonna shoot it right into the goalies chest even with an open net and everytime I saw him try to skate with the puck I felt like I was watching a nature documentary of a turtle trying to push a ball around while being distracted by bits of food temporarily causing it to forget what it was doing. I mean Lucic is slow and hard to watch at times as he looks like tree trunk floating around the ice but at least he can hit and fight when he isn't contributing in any real way.

 

[TFHockey]

Agreed everytime I saw Neal shoot the puck I cringed because I knew he was just gonna shoot it right into the goalies chest even with an open net and everytime I saw him try to skate with the puck I felt like I was watching a nature documentary of a turtle trying to push a ball around while being distracted by bits of food temporarily causing it to forget what it was doing. I mean Lucic is slow and hard to watch at times as he looks like tree trunk floating around the ice but at least he can hit and fight when he isn't contributing in any real way.

Neal played well in the play-in round. He and AA actually tried hard and few of the other oiler forwards (I'm looking at you, Kassian) really did.

 

[Double Dion]

Neal played well in the play-in round. He and AA actually tried hard and few of the other oiler forwards (I'm looking at you, Kassian) really did.

Neal is a better fit in Edmonton than he was in Calgary. It was really clear after he left that he was not well liked in the Flames room. He also seemed like he was pouting on the ice for the back half of the season. He needs sheltered minutes and PP time. Calgary has a much bigger group of middle six forwards than Edmonton. Neal is the 5th best offensive player for Edmonton. In Calgary even playing well he would be 9th best in the regular season and 10th in the playoffs. Can't play a guy who needs to be sheltered when he's a 4th liner offensively.

 

[CraigsList]

So, can we all call it a truce?

 

[ConnorMcNugesaitl]

If the Flames re-sign Gus, and I hope they do, the trade would be Neal for Lucic and Gustafsson. How Swede is that!

I also noted a post game column by Mark Spector at SN lamenting the lack of toughness on the Oiler squad. Seems they could have used Looch as they were a skilled but soft team to play against.

Oilers short on toughness in season-ending loss to Blackhawks - Sportsnet.ca

Yeah Oilers could've used a player like Milan Lucic unfortunately he was useless for the Oilers.

I wish him nothing but bad things in Calgary, such a whiney little bitch in Edmonton despite the coaching staff doing everything they could to make him successful.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Change of scenery worked out well for both.

I like Lucic, hopefully he can give us another year or two of this in the ploffs.