James Neal Appreciation Thread

[Jet Walters]

Wtf am I reading.

Ok. Maybe I went a bit overboard, but it’s where the rhyme took me. I apologize to all the posters on this board, James Neal, and most importantly my wife (for getting her hopes up).

 

[Dorian2]

I thought it was funny as shit if it makes you feel any better.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Ok. Maybe I went a bit overboard, but it’s where the rhyme took me. I apologize to all the posters on this board, James Neal, and most importantly my wife (for getting her hopes up).

Poetry knows no bounds.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I'm very excite!

 

[Drivesaitl]

Bill Peters is a ****ing idiot. Flames deserve him. Wouldn't be surprised if he was a loud voice in dumping Neal for Lucic. Still feel that he was a big part in Neal under-performing last year ("emergence" of Lindholm, Neal being burnt out / out of shape to camp after two back to back Finals the other reasons). Tippet is a coach that strategically changes up the lineups in game (see Jurco usage so far). Peters overachieved last year and was carried by a motivated and skilled roster (also see Babcock, McLellan Sharks - though he's doing well with the Kings so far).

Player's commentary is fair and expected.

Neal has already exceeded my expectations, regardless of how the rest of the season shakes out.

peters would be exactly the type of Boston Dumb coach that would figure Seguin has something wrong with him, isn't in the mix, doesn't share the team passion etc.

You live and die with idiot coaches like this and they usually last a year or two.

Neal was probably one of Peters number # targets and I'm sure if Neal could say everything he'd want to he'd be saying lots. Obviously Neal is speaking volumes on the ice.

Basically he's saying he'd be the 2nd or 3rd best forward in Calgary and they buried him so he's doing it here and loving every minute of it.

LA had the same kind of disaster coach last season. Complete moron. They will do better with McLellan but not close to enough due to their shelled out roster.

 

[Oilhawks]

peters would be exactly the type of Boston Dumb coach that would figure Seguin has something wrong with him, isn't in the mix, doesn't share the team passion etc.

You live and die with idiot coaches like this and they usually last a year or two.

Neal was probably one of Peters number # targets and I'm sure if Neal could say everything he'd want to he'd be saying lots. Obviously Neal is speaking volumes on the ice.

Basically he's saying he'd be the 2nd or 3rd best forward in Calgary and they buried him so he's doing it here and loving every minute of it.

LA had the same kind of disaster coach last season. Complete moron. They will do better with McLellan but not close to enough due to their shelled out roster.

Absolutely.

Neal was interviewed by Seravalli, pretty scathing article lol (finally some more media pushback on this, in particular Seravalli calls out Peters for dropping the ball here):

https://www.tsn.ca/james-neal-making-the-most-of-early-opportunity-with-oilers-1.1378882

Of particular note Neal states with regards to being set up to fail in Calgary.

When I was in Calgary, I asked for help. I said ‘Hey, I need a chance. I need help. I want to play more. I need this, I need that.’ I never got it. I’ve moved on.

The results thus far speak for themselves. The pace won’t be as torrid but he’s back on track at this time.

 

[Darkwinter]

After all our fans have been through with this team, we bloody well deserve it and if the Calgary fans don't like it and the (nice men on Calgary radio )think were rubbing it into them well so be it. How the hell can they try to compare loch night to Neils night? You could tell they were grasping at straws in that cheap 70s porno interview. It takes a lot to piss me off but come on for Christ sake let us have our 5 minutes of fame without crapping on us .............time to shut up I'm already in the hf bad boys club till December

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

Absolutely.

Neal was interviewed by Seravalli, pretty scathing article lol (finally some more media pushback on this, in particular Seravalli calls out Peters for dropping the ball here):

https://www.tsn.ca/james-neal-making-the-most-of-early-opportunity-with-oilers-1.1378882

Of particular note Neal states with regards to being set up to fail in Calgary.



The results thus far speak for themselves. The pace won’t be as torrid but he’s back on track at this time.

Since when does Seravelli write anything positive about the Oilers? Maybe the Oilers are just getting collateral praise given that the article is more about Neal and Lucic, and to a lesser extent Holland, Tippett, Treliving and Peters. Then if he squints he can pertend there aren't any Oilers in the equation. Yeah, that makes more sense.

 

[Cloned]

Since when does Seravelli write anything positive about the Oilers? Maybe the Oilers are just getting collateral praise given that the article is more about Neal and Lucic, and to a lesser extent Holland, Tippett, Treliving and Peters. Then if he squints he can pertend there aren't any Oilers in the equation. Yeah, that makes more sense.

It was chic to hate on Chia and the Oilers. No one disrespects Holland though. Slowly but surely the narrative is changing, from the officials to the media.

 

[Patch101]

Lets not get toooo excited.

Member when Gagner had that monster game?
That said, so far so good.

 

[Fig]

peters would be exactly the type of Boston Dumb coach that would figure Seguin has something wrong with him, isn't in the mix, doesn't share the team passion etc.

You live and die with idiot coaches like this and they usually last a year or two.

Neal was probably one of Peters number # targets and I'm sure if Neal could say everything he'd want to he'd be saying lots. Obviously Neal is speaking volumes on the ice.

Basically he's saying he'd be the 2nd or 3rd best forward in Calgary and they buried him so he's doing it here and loving every minute of it.

LA had the same kind of disaster coach last season. Complete moron. They will do better with McLellan but not close to enough due to their shelled out roster.

Actually, Peters is the type to play the young guy over the vets and give him extra leash to develop and succeed. Peters is the type of guy with a very short leash on certain vets (see what happened to Lack a few seasons back in Carolina). Neal wasn’t the only guy to receive this treatment, Frolik also took a drubbing when he wasn’t doing great last season.

It’s kinda refreshing and bizarre actually. Most coaches gives vets extra leash, not young guys.

Neal struggled in a bunch of ways last season ranging from equipment issues (stick), injuries (including a bunch of teeth smacked out of him), new city/team/coach etc and just couldn’t get going. My attempts to determine what the issue was and whether it was a permanent issue (I thought he’d bounce back) were laughed off as making excuses for him by a small contingent (we all have those). When it seemed like it was obvious there were some issues (not cancer, but at least a major distraction), I stood on managements side of the opinion Neal had to be gone.

But for Lucic?

What started off seemingly like a bad joke turned to “Hey, might make a ton of sense if the NMC is cancelled” to bittersweet confusion.

A locker room distraction is gone. Great! (Has issues in previous seasons with locker room distractions so glad it’s gone). Why the heck is it Lucic and that god awful aspect of his contract?

If Neal has shown a glimpse of what he’s done so far with the Oilers on the Flames, I’d be less frustrated. But with more and more evidence coming out from his interviews and whatnot, it straight up seems like he quit on the team so management had to make a move to remove a distraction, and this attitude laid the foundation of this horrendous trade.

Ugh.

Be happy with the trade and sip every drop of this victory, your fan base deserves it. At the very least I hope this sows the seeds of nastier BOA to come so that the Death Valley trip can return and be hated league wide.

 

[MattySnipes]

Thought y'all might like this edit. Saw it on Twitter.

 

[alko]

What if he will score 50 goals this season? Will it be the biggest comeback in NHL history?

 

[Bangers]

Hard to believe, but the Oilers have already won the trade 3 games into the season. They unloaded Lucic's contract, and Neal has already scored more goals than Lucic is likely to this season (and definitely more than Lucic would have if he'd stayed an Oiler).

I'll take the extra cap hit for that.

 

[TheNumber4]

LOL. Flames consider Lucic v. Zadorov a fight? It was two sucker punches followed by Zadorov holding Lucic cause hes like what the f*** this moron sucker punching me for?

 

[ToeMcDrag83]

All hail James Neal the real deal
**** Lucic. The tossed out banana peel.

 

[McFlyingV]

For a team that has continually lacked goal scorers, imagine my reaction when the idea that Neal is "stealing goals that Chiasson would have scored" was thrown around on the main boards. He's exactly what we need, and his 5v5 play has been fine imo. He and Nuge seem to be able to read off each other and establish a strong cycle game. Just wait until Nuge gets going offensively and they have some time to build some chemistry with a 3rd. Jurco looked pretty decent with those two so lets see where it goes, but I've also really liked Nygard's game the past two games because he's using his speed to create chances and making much better plays with the puck in the offensive zone.

The Real Deal is back baby.

 

[McFlyingV]

LOL. Flames consider Lucic v. Zadorov a fight? It was two sucker punches followed by Zadorov holding Lucic cause hes like what the **** this moron sucker punching me for?

If Lucic did that last season we would have been on a 4 minute penalty kill. Sooner or later he's going to hurt the team with a dumb penalty when he can't control his emotions. We saw that last night when he got mad that he got hit, and when the guy who hits him isn't willing to drop the gloves we'll see him do something stupid.

At the end of the day even if you think that part of the game is important, Lucic has a measly 1 shot through 3 games. If he keeps that up and shoots at his average % over the past two years he will score 2 goals this year. Keep in mind they have him playing 3rd line when he should be on the 4th line. I have a feeling Calgary's scoring depth is going to dry up this year when they're relying on guys like Lucic, Bennett, a wilting Frolik, Jankowski, and Rieder to provide bottom 6 scoring.

I find it weird how everyone's talking about the Lucic trade as being a success if he can help Calgary win a round or 2 in the playoffs (a laughable assertion in the first place because he's an awful player). Yet here I am looking at their roster, and outside of the Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm line who all had career years last year and are likely to see some regression, I can't stop but wonder where the offence is going to come from other than Tkachuk? Backlund's a good 2nd line centre, but his a below average offensive player in that spot. Derek Ryan adds some offence from the 3rd line, but how much is he going to be able to do stapled to guys like Lucic and Bennett? I guess what I'm wondering is why the media talks about Calgary as if they are a sure thing to be in the playoffs let alone winning playoff rounds.

 

[North]

Flames still say he was toxic for them, and I actually agree. Lucic was for us too. There's nothing more toxic than losing, especially if you are a veteran expected to lead, but are a liability on the ice, and it's an awkward situation.

So the same player could be toxic somewhere and great elsewhere. However there are some Flames fans who seem to say that he decided to bad for them. He probably wanted to do everything to be successful. No one wants to fail. It's not like he was in a contract year, demanding offensive minutes to cash in.

And yes, maybe he needs to be gifted some prime offense time. He's a goalscorer so he's not going to look good in the bottom six.

Most people knew that Neal was a top 6 or nothing player except Bill Peters apparently.

 

[North]

Lets not get toooo excited.

Member when Gagner had that monster game?
That said, so far so good.

Remember when Lucic had that monster game? Me neither.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Absolutely.

Neal was interviewed by Seravalli, pretty scathing article lol (finally some more media pushback on this, in particular Seravalli calls out Peters for dropping the ball here):

https://www.tsn.ca/james-neal-making-the-most-of-early-opportunity-with-oilers-1.1378882

Of particular note Neal states with regards to being set up to fail in Calgary.



The results thus far speak for themselves. The pace won’t be as torrid but he’s back on track at this time.

Thanks for this. Some interesting substantiation. I kind of followed this last season because I knew Neal to be a good player, and he certainly was every else so something was odd..

Here's an interesting thing. Neal played only 16mins on the #1 PP unit in Calgary ALL SEASON. Think about how astoundingly silly that is. The guy has more goals than any Flame, and he's barely ever on the top unit. He's had almost that many minutes so far on our top PP unit and has ALL Of our PP goals. 4 afairc. That contrast in isolation is mind boggling.

Flames were a decently enough run org for awhile but the keys are in the wrong hands right now. Nobody really steering. Even as players that's difficult as you just see the mistakes of coaching and management compound. I mean the other day Gio's interview is just pained. The guy knows. He can't say shit, but you can see that he doesn't know what to say. He's a bit bewildered.

The core guys here experienced the same thing in the lost Eakins/Chiarelli years where this org nosedived to comical depths. Finally we're not the joke org.

 

[Paralyzer]

Lets not get toooo excited.

Member when Gagner had that monster game?
That said, so far so good.

I don't think anyone expects Neal to score another 4 goal game in a LOOOONG time. But we CAN expect a goal every 3-5 games IMO. I wouldn't be sad if he did this.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Actually, Peters is the type to play the young guy over the vets and give him extra leash to develop and succeed. Peters is the type of guy with a very short leash on certain vets (see what happened to Lack a few seasons back in Carolina). Neal wasn’t the only guy to receive this treatment, Frolik also took a drubbing when he wasn’t doing great last season.

It’s kinda refreshing and bizarre actually. Most coaches gives vets extra leash, not young guys.

Neal struggled in a bunch of ways last season ranging from equipment issues (stick), injuries (including a bunch of teeth smacked out of him), new city/team/coach etc and just couldn’t get going. My attempts to determine what the issue was and whether it was a permanent issue (I thought he’d bounce back) were laughed off as making excuses for him by a small contingent (we all have those). When it seemed like it was obvious there were some issues (not cancer, but at least a major distraction), I stood on managements side of the opinion Neal had to be gone.

But for Lucic?

What started off seemingly like a bad joke turned to “Hey, might make a ton of sense if the NMC is cancelled” to bittersweet confusion.

A locker room distraction is gone. Great! (Has issues in previous seasons with locker room distractions so glad it’s gone). Why the heck is it Lucic and that god awful aspect of his contract?

If Neal has shown a glimpse of what he’s done so far with the Oilers on the Flames, I’d be less frustrated. But with more and more evidence coming out from his interviews and whatnot, it straight up seems like he quit on the team so management had to make a move to remove a distraction, and this attitude laid the foundation of this horrendous trade.

Ugh.

Be happy with the trade and sip every drop of this victory, your fan base deserves it. At the very least I hope this sows the seeds of nastier BOA to come so that the Death Valley trip can return and be hated league wide.

This is a pretty reasonable post from a Flames fan. Cheers for making it.

I kind of disagree on the Neal giving up thing because for whatever reason the Flames gave up on Neal before Neal started seeing it as a really bad move.

As fans we don't often get to see the behind the doors stuff. We do know the Flames courted Neal, and off a hot season figured he was going to be some hotsauce.

But then Lindholm happened and the script changed. It happens. Offseasons can involve multiple additions, changes, changes of plans.

In anycase both Pulju and Lucic were major distractions here. I call players like these wet logs because they really interfere with the passion and intensity of the rest of the team. They cool lines they are on.

Neal really isn't that guy, and still strives to be the best. Lucic started taking some short cuts and resting on accolades even back in Boston, and was carried in his year in LA. I knew was bad news here all along. He came in here getting what he felt was a pretty decent retirement contract and pretty much put his feet up.

The difference is Lucic was here multiple years and was one of the worst contract values most of those years. Lower pays like Maroon and Kassian were imo better players than him always.

Neal only had the one bad season, ever. Lucic has had several questionable seasons on his resume.

 

[ujju2]

Remember when Lucic had that monster game? Me neither.

Nashville. 2(?) seasons ago. Last one I can remember. And even that was just a period.

 

[Dorian2]

imagine my reaction when the idea that Neal is "stealing goals that Chiasson would have scored"

That has to be the strangest thing I've heard in a while. Where does that type of mentality even come from?