Quote:
Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache
Ok, look, I know we are unimpressed with Neal
Lucic got 74 shots on goal in 79 games.
Neal had 141 shots in 63 games, and an absurdly low 5 percent shooting percentage. 2.2 shots per game, off his recent years numbers which you may see around ~2.8
Even coming back to the low end of his recent normal 10-12 percent shooting percentage range, he should be much better than Lucic. And I think with confidence it will snowball a bit.
Sometimes players struggle the first 20 games or so with a new team, and Neal sure didn’t get out of that funk decisively. I don’t see any way he is possibly as bad as last year.
You can’t sell low if the return is way lower
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I would 100% agree with everything you wrote here. More often than not, being patient given a players' history and usage will result in a bit of a rebound season.
However, one of the main criticisms that I have towards Neal is his shot. I thought it was awful. It is not hard, nor accurate. It is not reminiscent of a sniper in the least, and though I do acknowledge that I may be suffering from confirmation bias, his shooting percentage was higher than it should be thanks to a few 'flukey' goals this year (like the knuckler against Pittsburgh that game in which they walloped Calgary, and created that turn around in the season).
That's why I would unload Neal for any player that could offer 'something', as aside from taking Dube in the corner and telling him all the right things (which IS valuable), I don't see him contributing anywhere else on the ice. Actually, I only see him being a detriment to the team both with his cap hit AND how players seem to suffer when he is on their line.
Another thing that worries me - and another reason why I would make the trade - is his self-awareness of the situation. Great that he is taking pride in himself and training hard in order to have a better season (something I am hoping for - will be happy to be proven wrong), but how on earth could he be going up to Peters and complain about his usage in the playoffs and arguing about it? If Neal doesn't get on a roll early on in the upcoming season, this could get ugly real fast and become a distraction to the team.
I guess we will see how he does this upcoming season, but I didn't see a guy that seemed to be suffering from 'bad luck'. I saw a guy that was unable to get to good shooting areas and a guy who had a poor shot, and thus I am not expecting his shooting percentage to improve unless he wants to start attacking the net and playing a much more gritty net-front presence type of game. I don't see him scoring much from distance. Maybe the stick thing is in his head, I don't know... but I really didn't see a player's poor shot be explained away as simply bad luck.