Neal trade.. thoughts now?

[cassius]

What do you guys think about the Neal trade now that we're almost through the regular season?

I thought it was a bad move at the time and I still believe that way. Guy was a proven 40 goal scorer signed to a long-term deal at a friendly cap hit. Also, he wasn't a soft wimp like half of the ******* on this roster. When liberties were taken against Sid/Geno, Neal wasn't afraid to answer the bell and get involved in the rough stuff.

Folks derided him for being dirty, or being a jerk... which led to him getting jettisoned from town. Well guess what? Hockey is a sport for tough guys, not wimps. If you want to watch a "clean" sport, go watch tennis or golf.

Now our roster is filled with a bunch of cupcakes who probably belong playing premier league soccer, not the tough physical game of the NHL.

Also - the guy flat out shot the puck at seemingly every opportunity, which is such a mindblowing concept. He was a total dynamo on the powerplay too. Neal embodies everything that this team needs right now.

Also, Neal's struggles in the post-season were well documented.. but that is not just a Neal problem. It's a Crosby and Geno problem too.

I'm not trying to dig up the past, but this was a big trade that made a huge impact on this team.

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[Kristopher Letang]

-I personally think that locker-room cancer thing was BS.
-I think Neal could have been a beast with the right coach playing with Malkin (Playoffs included)
-I will never agree with his on-ice attitude (Cheap shots)
-I think that if Horny was going to be Malkin's LW, we should have kept Neal cuz Horny doesn't have chemistry with Geno
-I like this trade every shift Horny is playing with Sid.

 

[Jacob]

It was a lateral move. Not detrimental. You seem to be remembering Neal more fondly than reality.

 

[Fordy]

Neal can never bring to this team what Horny would if he was playing on the right line

 

[shizno*]

It was a lateral move. Not detrimental. You seem to be remembering Neal more fondly than reality.

I remember 40 goals, I remember Malkin actually caring/smiling.

 

[penguins2946*]

It was a deal that needed to happen. I miss Neal, but he was the perfect example of how the Bylsma era tainted the Pens. The Pens move Geno's buddy, it's time for them to move Sid's buddy that personifies the Bylsma era as well.

 

[Black Label]

Hornqvist isn't the problem, and Neal isn't the solution.

 

[Iffyiffiffer]

Too little too late

 

[Asuna]

I guess we will keep bringing this up for eternity.

 

[Greeneye]

I think the problem is that was the only big move. This team needed a bigger shake up it seems. Neal was singled out when he was just a part of the larger problem.

 

[BigEezyE22]

I bet James Neal likes the trade.

 

[cassius]

It was a lateral move. Not detrimental. You seem to be remembering Neal more fondly than reality.

For $5M/year signed long-term, you're not going to find many better wingers than Neal. Just how it is.

 

[roquay]

Hornqvist isn't the problem, and Neal isn't the solution.

Spot on. If I had to pick one for a tough playoff series I'll pick Hornqvist. Doesn't give up and a fantastic player around the net. Goalies always run hot against us because we never make life difficult for them. At least Horny is part of that solution.

 

[penguins2946*]

For $5M/year signed long-term, you're not going to find many better wingers than Neal. Just how it is.

Off the top of my head and not including ELCs:

-JVR
-Pacioretty
-Ladd
-Voracek
-Oshie
-Perron
-Palat
-Foligno (at least this year, he's better)
-Schwartz
-Okposo

There's also Nyquist and Tatar that I took off, because I thought it was too debatable. Players like Carter ($5.273 million), Hossa ($5.233 million), Landeskog ($5.571 million), Wheeler ($5.6 million) and Ryan ($5.1 million) are also noticeably better than Neal and make only slightly more.

 

[madinsomniac]

It was a bad deal then and a bad deal now. yes we needed a guy like Hornqvist, and we should have made a move to get him that did not cost us Neal. Neal is simply a more talented guy.

People mistook how he was playing last year for how he was always going to play. the truth was that he could create on his own and he can play a more complete game than some gave him credit for. the harsher truth was we needed his offense more than anything he was going to do on the other end anyhow.

In his prime Kunitz, Malkin and Neal was the best line in hockey when it was together. We are looking at a player on a team that was not protecting it stars, misassembling lines, and really not asking its forwards to play a good defensive game, then criticizing him for basically adapting to that nonsense and still producing.


in any case he was a star level player signed to a relatively cheap contract. He deserved a chance to be coached up and to see what that led to. instead we sold fairly low on him.

Him on a line with Malkin right now would go a long way to not being in the mess we are in where we simply cant score because the top 2 lines either don't have a great shooter or don't have a guy to get the nasty screen and garbage goals in front. To be honest his shot with hornqvist in front of the net might make hornqvist more palatable on that 2nd line. Comeau isn't 1/2th the offensive guy Neal is.....

 

[Riggs]

I'm ok with it. Hornqvist brings the net front game that was needed. He should have been a great fit for Crosby.

What I didn't like was that the team made the move to get Crosby his winger at the cost of Malkin's winger and then did nothing to address the hole they created on the second line and signed a FA defensemen... I still don't like that aspect of the deal.

 

[Shady Machine]

Wait, where is this "Neal was tough and stood up for Crosby and Malkin" **** coming from? Neal was NOT a tough player. He was only physical when he wanted to be and rarely stuck up for his linemates with any purpose. He would randomly get pissed off and do something that often times ended up putting the other team in a PP.

Neal was the best player in that trade and it may go down as a bad trade, but the team needed a shake up and Neal was the one chosen. I understood the trade and I still really like Hornqvist as a player. The problem is we still don't have the right horses to win in the playoff style of game.

 

[Jacob]

For $5M/year signed long-term, you're not going to find many better wingers than Neal. Just how it is.

Hornqvist is on a good deal too so I don't know why you're bringing that up.

 

[cassius]

Hornqvist is on a good deal too so I don't know why you're bringing that up.

Neal is much better at ice hockey than Hornqvist..

Hornqvist reminds me of a poor man's Tomas Holmstrom. He's a horrible skater, doesn't have great passing skills, lacks size, and is a bit of a spazz out there.. the only saving grace for him is crashing the net. That's a lot of warts.

He has pretty much 0 chemistry with Malkin too.

I believe this team would be better today if we did not make the Neal trade.

 

[madinsomniac]

Hornqvist is on a good deal too so I don't know why you're bringing that up.

I don't think anyone is questioning hornqvist as being a good add, its that neal was a bad subtraction. Adding Perron slightly fixed some of what taking neal off this team did, but we are still slightly behind where we need to be on the top 6. If we had moved Kunitz or Dupuis+ in the deal rather than Neal, we would be set for some time in the top 6.

you can have a past prime Vet or a comeau/dupuis top 9 type or a less experienced developing guy round out a top 6 and still be ok, its when you have more than one of those that you see issues, just like you can have an offensive black hole on a bottom six line and be fine, its when you have more than one of those guys that a line collapses

 

[Winger for Hire]

If the Pens used their players properly, then I doubt there's as big a portion poo-pooing the trade. That fact that Hornqvist is being forced to play with a centre who isn't meshing with him and Spaling has been used in a scoring role at times and forced to play with the most vanilla and offensively challenged centre in the league (maybe a tad dramatic, but you get what I'm getting at) has really tainted their standings/contributions on the team.

If Hornqvist was put back with Crosby (even if it means moving Perron to Malkin's line), I think you'd see the 1st half Hornqvist again. And as for Spaling, I just think people are expecting way too much from him (because of his not terribly high contract) and not seeing what he does bring is valuable, if given the right role.

 

[Shady Machine]

Neal is much better at ice hockey than Hornqvist..

Hornqvist reminds me of a poor man's Tomas Holmstrom. He's a horrible skater, doesn't have great passing skills, lacks size, and is a bit of a spazz out there.. the only saving grace for him is crashing the net.

He has pretty much 0 chemistry with Malkin too.

I believe this team would be better today if we did not make the Neal trade.

I disagree with your views on both Neal and Hornqvist (too high on Neal, too low on Hornqvist), but your conclusion may be right. It's possible we would be a better team with Neal. Instead of Spaling, we could have signed Winnik (unless he had some dying desire to go to Toronto).

Assuming all else stays the same (Dupuis and Maatta on LTIR and Perron deal happens), the lineup would be:

Kunitz-Crosby-Perron
Comeau-Malkin-Neal
Winnik-Sutter-Bennett
Adams-Lapierre-Downie

Looking at that lineup, I can't say your conclusions are wrong, but now we are dealing in a hypothetical world.

 

[Will Hunting]

Hornqvist is really disappearing lately, which sucks. It´s frustrating. Spaling is what he is, I kinda like him in his role. Neal is a more talented player but even if not for this trade, this team would still suck badly now. You see this officiating against us this season and if you add Neal to that roster, it would be even worse. You see this "I don´t care attitude" and Neal is not that kind of a player that would spark a struggling team.

The problems go waaay beyond this trade, undoing that trade now would change nothing. We would have Sill and Neal instead of Hornqvist and Spaling in the lineup.

Powerplay is a problem, Johnston is a problem, Tocchet is a problem, unedperforming superstars are a problem, players like Adams, Bortuzzo, Scuderi etc are a problem and then there is Chris Kunitz who just needs to go.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Lose a guy who scores fancy goals by the boatload during the regular season but is ineffective (to say the very least) come playoffs. Gain a guy with a skill set that works with either of our two centers, which also carries over well into hard fought, tight checking playoff games. Add in a good third liner at a reasonable price.

No issue with the trade now, just like I had no issue with it before. Hornqvist's been injured, but he was on pace for around 35ish goals. I'm glad Neal is doing well in Nashville, but I don't miss him for a second. He was the epitome of the Shero/Bylsma era--fantastic in the regular season, and flashy, but when push came to shove come playoff time, he was a colossal disappointment.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

It isn't really worth revisiting, considering what an utter ****-show this team is in so many other areas. But yes, this turned out to be a dumb trade, IMO. And that isn't to say that I dislike Hornqvist or even Spaling. But if the idea was to get more clutch and more character when the games are important (which they are, all of the sudden -- wildcard team, now)... then clearly they are not living up to that standard.

People want to call Neal a tinman because of his lack of production when games were on the line... well...