Confirmed Trade: [CGY/EDM] James Neal for Milan Lucic (12.5% retained) and a 2020 conditional 3rd round pick Part 2

[Karl Eriksson]

Edmonton wins......FATALITY !

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

That's not a given.

He can waive his NMC. He doesn't have to, but he can.

A question for Calgary fans, given the roster today, who would you protect? Assuming Hamonic and Brodie aren't re-signed, would it be:

7-3-1
Gaudreau, Lindholm, Monahan, Tkachuk, Bennett, Backlund, ?????
Giordano, Hanifin, Andersson.

Maybe losing Kylington or Valimaki?

Does protecting or not protecting Lucic even matter in this case as you'd likely lose one of those two guys regardless? Or would you go 4-4-1 where protecting Lucic would make a difference.

 

[HFBS]

12.5% retained? If it was 17.5% I would have said it's his nose.

 

[MalkinsPierogi]

Fun fact, that was almost a decade ago.

Neal will be force fed top 6 minutes in Edmonton because he is instantly their second best RW. Neal has no value similar to Lucic. Also worth mentioning, from someone I trust a bunch in terms of Calgary rumours, Neal did not want to be here anymore.

It was less than "almost a decade ago." If you look at Neal's previous production, you'd see that his season with Calgary is an outlier amongst the others. It was the first season he didn't pot at LEAST 20 goals. He's got some left in the tank. Don't count him out so quickly. He's only 31.

 

[Mestaruus]

What's the condition for the 3rd round conditional pick?

 

[Baxterman]

A question for Calgary fans, given the roster today, who would you protect? Assuming Hamonic and Brodie aren't re-signed, would it be:

7-3-1
Gaudreau, Lindholm, Monahan, Tkachuk, Bennett, Backlund, ?????
Giordano, Hanifin, Andersson.

Maybe losing Kylington or Valimaki?

Does protecting or not protecting Lucic even matter in this case as you'd likely lose one of those two guys regardless? Or would you go 4-4-1 where protecting Lucic would make a difference.

Valimaki would and should be protected over Giordano at the time of the expansion draft.

I imagine Dube would need to be protected so my list would be (in order of importance to protect):

Monahan, Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Lindholm, Dube, Bennett, Backlund

Valimaki, Hanifin, Andersson

I would hope/think that Kylington is dealt before then but if we lose him no big loss at all. So Lucic would potentially have us losing an older Backlund which wouldnt be the end of the world but it would be much better to keep Backlund and lose whatever other player we would have to expose that wouldn't hurt at all.

 

[mvp1977]

Oilers fans acting like they got the best gift ever in James Neal. Wait till you turn him on and notice his batteries are dead and can't be recharged lol

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Oilers fans acting like they got the best gift ever in James Neal. Wait till you turn him on and notice his batteries are dead and can't be recharged lol

Or we got a guy who has produced top 6 numbers every season but 1. That one season coming off a short off season and a coach who didn't give him a chance.

With the opportunity he will get in Edmonton, I have little doubt he will score 20+

 

[Baxterman]

Or we got a guy who has produced top 6 numbers every season but 1. That one season coming off a short off season and a coach who didn't give him a chance.

With the opportunity he will get in Edmonton, I have little doubt he will score 20+

Peters gave him a chance. I know this has become a narrative in Edmonton to try and spin it as though Neal has a good chance to rebound but it is completely false. He had every chance to succeed but sucked too bad to take it.

Coaching had nothing to do with Neals struggles.

 

[Oddbob]

What's the condition for the 3rd round conditional pick?

If Neal scores 21 or more goals, and Lucic scores 10 less goals than him, Edmonton gives a 3rd rounder to Calgary, otherwise it is a 1 for 1 swap. Both of those have to happen in order for the 3rd rounder to be involved.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Congrats to Edmonton on a big win here. Moving that terrible Lucic contract will be huge for them, going forward.

Ultimately, it won't really help them win anything, as the rest of the roster is still mostly garbage, but they've saved some serious face.

You know nothing about the Oilers roster. Thanks though

 

[mvp1977]

Or we got a guy who has produced top 6 numbers every season but 1. That one season coming off a short off season and a coach who didn't give him a chance.

With the opportunity he will get in Edmonton, I have little doubt he will score 20+

Bill Peters gave him ample chances to prove himself. It's possible Neal does rebound " slightly " in Edmonton, if he gets playing time with McDavid, but he certainly isn't going to score 20 goals plus. Neal just can't skate and his laziness will piss you off to the highest degree.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Peters gave him a chance. I know this has become a narrative in Edmonton to try and spin it as though Neal has a good chance to rebound but it is completely false. He had every chance to succeed but sucked too bad to take it.

Coaching had nothing to do with Neals struggles.

Bill Peters gave him ample chances to prove himself. It's possible Neal does rebound " slightly " in Edmonton, if he gets playing time with McDavid, but he certainly isn't going to score 20 goals plus. Neal just can't skate and his laziness will piss you off to the highest degree.

I'm getting a real bitter vibe about the player after the trade to Edmonton.

I love the certainty that the player wont rebound when every angle that you can look at it (1 outlier season, criminally low shooting percentage, better centers to play with, great off season training, motivation) suggest you're likely going to be proven wrong

 

[smitty10]

You know nothing about the Oilers roster. Thanks though

Seriously? The Oilers roster is pretty brutal outside of a few players. There's no secondary scoring to speak of, a decent portion of the roster is very slow and the D are questionable at best.

This isn't a good looking team on paper at all.

 

[Baxterman]

I'm getting a real bitter vibe about the player after the trade to Edmonton.

I love the certainty that the player wont rebound when every angle that you can look at it (1 outlier season, criminally low shooting percentage, better centers to play with, great off season training, motivation) suggest you're likely going to be proven wrong

I was saying the exact same things before the deal so no it has nothing to do with the trade and everything to do with the player.

The certainty is coming from the side expecting him to bounce back. The motivation and off season training thing is said by every guy coming off a bad year and for the most part it doesn't work because the issue is diminishing skills. As for better centers, Neal couldn't get it done with Gaudreau and Monahan, if they aren't good enough for you to leech points off of then you really aren't much of a player at all.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Seriously? The Oilers roster is pretty brutal outside of a few players. There's no secondary scoring to speak of, a decent portion of the roster is very slow and the D are questionable at best.

This isn't a good looking team on paper at all.

Aside from having 2 of the best players in the game and a great 2C in RNH... the Oilers have actually made a lot of tweaks to their secondary scoring. Neal, Granlund, Benson, Archibald, Chiasson, Gagner is actually a decent group.

The narrative that they're slow is also overblown, especially now that their slowest player has been shipped off.

I'm not worried about the D either. Their young stars back there are getting better and they have incredible and elite depth coming in short order.

While I'd love to add one more player with 20g potential, my only major concern is goaltending.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

I was saying the exact same things before the deal so no it has nothing to do with the trade and everything to do with the player.

The certainty is coming from the side expecting him to bounce back. The motivation and off season training thing is said by every guy coming off a bad year and for the most part it doesn't work because the issue is diminishing skills. As for better centers, Neal couldn't get it done with Gaudreau and Monahan, if they aren't good enough for you to leech points off of then you really aren't much of a player at all.

Again, coming off a cup run can be a legitimate excuse, so we will see how that plays out.

But Gaudreau and Monahan aren't McDavid and Draisaitl...

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

What I will say, despite how happy I am for Edmonton in this deal, I do think Calgary wins it too.

Calgary doesn't need Lucic to put up the same numbers offensively that Edmonton was hoping for. Calgary knows he's a bottom 6 guy, and they just need him for leadership and physicality. He should still chip in the same numbers that Neal did last season in that role.

 

[Baxterman]

Again, coming off a cup run can be a legitimate excuse, so we will see how that plays out.

But Gaudreau and Monahan aren't McDavid and Draisaitl...

Sure it could be an excuse but that seems very unlikely when you watch how bad he was out there.

Again if Neal needs players better than Monahan and Gaudreau to score and can only produce if McDavid and Drasaitl are doing everything then what kind of player is he? I can get points if lined up with those 4 and there is zero chance I should be playing in the NHL.

 

[DakrSnooze]

When this trade was previously discussed Calgary fans laughed and said Edmonton would have to add at least a 1st round pick to make the deal work. Now the narrative has changed.

 

[archangel2]

I am just waiting for flames to flip Lucic to Vancouver for our baby

 

[OiledUp]

The big win for the oilers isn’t getting Neal as imo it’s unlikely he provides much of value, pure bonus if he does, but the far better buyout structure.
It’s really a can’t lose trade for the Oil as even if Lucic does bounce back for some odd reason I’m absolutely certain he wouldn’t have bounced back in an oilers jersey. So the Oilers might not win but they can’t really lose.

Doubt either player will be anything more than something for the fans to aim their frustration at until being dumped by their respective team.

 

[Skolman]

When this trade was previously discussed Calgary fans laughed and said Edmonton would have to add at least a 1st round pick to make the deal work. Now the narrative has changed.

No doubt

It's funny, now there are people who say this is a fair deal or that Calgary won the deal.

Everyone knows damn well that if an Oiler fan proposed this on HF a week ago they would have been laughed at by every Non-Oiler fan.

 

[ottawa]

Or we got a guy who has produced top 6 numbers every season but 1. That one season coming off a short off season and a coach who didn't give him a chance.

With the opportunity he will get in Edmonton, I have little doubt he will score 20+

Don't count your eggs before they hatch, Edmonton had that with Lucic as well. He had been putting up top 6 numbers for the better part of 7 seasons until Edmonton happened.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Excellent deal for Edmonton. I think paying $6.5 million per year for Neal is significantly better than paying $6 million per year for Lucic. 7 goals since the Christmas break of 2017/18, which is a 125 game sample size. There's just no coming back from something like that. In a down year of absolutely epic proportions, Neal matched that goal total in half the games.