Is there any reason your comparing him to Ryan?
They are really good players to compare, IMO. Both PF, both with knocks to their skating. Both will have huge seasons in junior. I've been on the Ryan bandwagon for quite a while, and like many others, heading into the draft I was a little bit disappointed with Neal, he didn't yet seem to be adjusting for his skating deficiencies very well, his offense wasn't showing much. Still, Neal has been a much more willing physical presence, more combative, harder working than Ryan. He picked that side of his game up even more after the draft. He has also filled out more now to help compare to Ryan, who has always carried a lot of bulk.
In many ways, Ryan isn't even a power forward in the old throwback sense of the term, just that he's a big guy who plays most of his game down low, but without the aggression that some people use as a defining PF criteria. I was surprised that Dallas took Neal that high, even though a longer range perspective would certainly have supported that pick. Ryan has vision and creativity that Neal lacks. Neal is developing that extra drive and aggression that Ryan lacks.
Neal's post-draft development curve has been steeper than Ryan's IMO. Has Ryan plateaued? Maybe it's hard to judge, because he has been dominating so long in the OHL that a certain complacency factor might come into play. They will be interesting players to monitor this year. And of course, just to throw a little bias in here, it will be interesting also to compare and contrast those two to another somewhat slow-footed PF type from that draft as he makes his NHL debut this season, Guillaume Latendresse.
