Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
My other confusion point is play driving.
Staples earlier this week pointed out that Lucic was one of the Oiler's best in corsi etc. That seemed odd to me so I looked it up and he is.
Fine I thought ... but they must be low impact events ... nope he's up there on scoring chance splits and high danger splits, as well as expected goal splits.
None of that fits with what I saw in Oiler games, but the stats are pretty irrefutable.
Some numbers ...
Flames (14 forwards with 200+ minutes)
James Neal was
12th in CF%
13th in SF%
13th in GF%
13th in xGF%
13th in SCF%
12th in HDCF%
5th in offensive zone starts
His one stat to hang on as an Edmonton fan ... 14th in on ice shooting percentage
Oilers (15 forwards with 200+ minutes)
Milan Lucic was
4th in CF%
5th in SF%
7th in GF%
3rd in xGF%
4th in SCF%
4th in HDCF%
12th in offensive zone starts
10th in on ice shooting percentage
Crazy ... Lucic wasn't sheltered, drove play, and should have been a top five point producer on a bad team.
Will be interesting to watch those numbers in Calgary
|
The thing that gives me some comfort is the fact I do have a ton of trust in the Flames management group. I truly think Neal was a toxic player in the room. I heard some second hand stuff that I rather not speculate as I have no way of knowing if it was true. Treliving knee this move was going to be hated by the fans so he has to feel confident it was the right move for the team.
There are other optics that go into this deal that have the fans saying it was a fleecing by Holland. Lucic was brought in as a direct Taylor Hall replacement and year 1 all was well. He put up solid numbers and the team made the playoffs. The next 2 years his numbers dried up and the team as a whole sucked. He starts getting a ton of blame and it impacts his confidence.
Neal was brought in to upgrade on Ferland. It was quickly realized we got the upgraded player in Lindholm and Neal really did not fit in the top 6. His historically bad season was somewhat covered up by the historically good season the team had. If the Flames missed the playoffs last year the Neal hate would have been 10x louder. They talked about it frequently on 960 that the team success sheltered the Neal criticism.
If the Flames can turn Frolik into cap space and Brodie/Hamonic into a legit second line RW the second best team in the league will be better next year.