After sleeping on it, I think its important to say that I don't think its clear that Milan Lucic is actually a worse player than James Neal.
-James Neal has a greater offensive impact
-James Neal has a much greater chance of bouncing back offensively
-Milian Lucic's lines do remarkably well with respect to puck possession
-Perhaps the worst part of Milan Lucic is his penalty differential, which is absolutely abysmal (the Flames had better have a good PK)
-Milan Lucic is a more physical player than James Neal, even if he doesn't fight very often
I don't really know anything about this, but if James Neal was not a good fit with the team because he was very unhappy with his situation and contributed to a bad work environment, then that would be another reason for acquiring Milan Lucic.
However, I don't like this trade at all because:
-The buyout of James Neal is much better than the buyout of Milan Lucic (the Flames are now likely saddled with a horrendous contract for 4 years, although the Flames and Oilers have just proven no contract is truly untradeable).
-Milan Lucic may choose not to waive his NMC for the expansion draft (although I think he will because Seattle is close to Vancouver and he probably cares about his reputation in Calgary).
That's my attempt at a measured response to this trade.
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