[sureLoss]

Great writeup by Duha:

https://theathletic.com/417404/2018/...or-to-calgary/

And it isn’t just about scoring goals, though scoring goals will be his primary value to a team that for years has relied too heavily on Monahan and Gaudreau for offence. The Flames were frequently criticized this year for not having a high-enough care factor.

Well, Neal cares.

Fourteen months ago, playing for Nashville in the 2017 playoffs, he had his hand broken in the first game of the Western Conference final on a slash by the Anaheim Ducks’ Corey Perry, but played through it – for the duration of that series and during the final against his ex-team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. In July of 2017, Neal had a bone graft done on his right hand to insert eight screws and a plate. The cast came off the first week of August. When Vegas’ training camp opened, he couldn’t even practice with the team. But he pushed himself to get into the opening night lineup just because that’s what players of his vintage do.

When I asked Neal about his miraculous recovery back in the second week of the season, he told me: “I’m OK. It’s not 100 per cent, but it’s good enough to play. I’ve had enough time to let the bone heal. That was the main thing to get (medical) clearance to play. Once that happens, you can start doing your rehab. I’m a bit ahead of schedule, so it’s all worked out.”

Of course, back in October, the expectation was that Vegas would eventually tail off and pending UFAs such as Neal and David Perron would be dangled as bait at the NHL trading deadline. But even before the Vegas miracle unfolded, Neal told me it was his preference to stay – that he liked the group of players they had assembled, he figured they would be competitive every night and he’d moved around enough lately (Vegas was his fourth stop, after Dallas, Pittsburgh and Nashville). This was his exact quote to me in October: “I don’t need to move again really. We have a nice mix here – and there’s no reason we can’t be competitive. I’m only 30. I feel really good. My body feels great. I had a great summer. I feel like I’m in my prime. I know it’s a business, but I said that to George, that I’d love to stay here.”

That time in October, Neal and I spoke about a lot of different topics, including the fact that we both spend the summers in Ontario cottage country. He noted that, as an older player, he wanted to be “a top guy on this team and a leader for this organization.”

He was, all of that, for Vegas in the magical 2017-18 season – a top guy and a leader.

Now, he just needs to bring a little of that Vegas pixie dust with him to Calgary.

His projected lineup

Gaudreau-Monahan-Neal

Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik

Bennett-Lindholm-Czarnik

Jankowski-Ryan-Brouwer/Lazar/Foo