Quote:
Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988
After sleeping on it, I see this as a loss from both teams.
Why would Edmonton do this? They are essentially paying 6.5 million for the next 4 seasons for James Neal.....
Why would Calgary do this? They get a guy making 500k less that has a less chance of bouncing back, but I guess he brings a physical presence if he's not contributing on the scoresheet? With a NMC..... I guess if they trade him again and retain salary, it's cheaper than a buyout with less of a cap hit.
I don't know who lost more. Weird trade.
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Flames lost biggest hitter in Hathaway (200 hits last year) and we’re already soft.
Lucic had 275 hits last year. He may also be useful in playoffs where speed becomes less important.
Neal was useless and seemed ok that he was useless.
Look at it if we had traded James Neal for Ryan reeves and retained $2.5mm of NealI think we’d all be happy at getting out from under Neal’s anchor contract. That’s kind of what we did. Lucic has similar offence and physicality.
Neal may work out in Edmonton, but I don’t think we had a need for a slow, non-physical, perimeter winger.
Flames may be only team where lucic can be an improvement.