Bingo, I think you made some great points and I agree with what you've said.
I would add that Lucic has a role on this team, even if it's as an overpaid 4th line goon. Neal didn't have any role here. I know many fans worry that Neal will score a bunch again with McDavid. Who cares. He was never going to do that here with where he would be in the lineup.
As for the NMC/expansion draft issue, I think it is a little overblown. Lucic's contract is considered "buyout proof" because there would be no cap savings for the team buying him out, which is usually the reason why a team chooses to use the buyout. But for the sake of the expansion draft, if there is a player we want to protect over Lucic, we can still buy him out. If the primary concern is we would like to protect someone instead of Lucic, the lack of cap savings would be an irrelevant, or at least secondary and negligible concern.
After sleeping on this deal, while I still don't like it, I dont really hate it as much. Just my $0.02.
|