Neal is an issue. I am taking a wait and see approach, but he doesn't look good next to Monahan and Gaudreau. He looked ok opposite Bennett. The Frolik - Ryan - Neal line was probably the best he looked with any consistency.
I am still holding out hope - sometimes a change of scenery can have no impact, sometimes it can have a positive impact and a player erupts, or it can have a negative impact short or even long term. Neal has been streaky, so there's that. He may turn it around. Maybe if he just pots a couple of goals on consecutive games, he can start relaxing his grip on his stick a bit. That might just be the issue right now.
I just hope it isn't a poor fit. Brouwer was a fairly consistent scorer up until he got to the Flames. Now his utilization was different than what he was used to on other teams, and I also think Gulutzan's system was trash for actually creating offence. Brouwer in Florida seems to be a decent depth scorer.
Might just be in the utilization. I think Ryan and Neal is simply not a good fit. If you really want to get Neal going, maybe a Tkachuk - Bennett - Neal line may actually work?
Frolik - Backlund - Ryan as a more traditional 'shut-down' line?
If not, maybe just switch what Peters is rolling with now in Jankowski and Ryan. Jankowski seems to be a much better playmaker. Try them out as a pair with a rotating set of LW'ers.
At the very least, there are a lot of reasonable options as to what to do with Neal.
Neal may end up going down as one of Treliving's UFA mistakes to go along with Brouwer and Raymond, or it just end up working out rather nicely if Neal just starts clicking with someone and pucks start finding their way into the back of the net.
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