Wasn't Brad near the top in votes for Executive of the Year last year?
Tampa Bay crushes everyone they played in the regular season and they got bounced in the playoffs before we did. It's not always the GM's fault.
Plus, we have no idea about the back story here. Was Neal bad in the room? Did Neal ask for a trade? Did Peters want him gone? Was Neal mad they let Smith go? Did key players want some toughness because they felt out of their element? Did the owners want to save some money if they are contributing towards a new arena?
Everyone makes mistakes or does things they don't want to do. Every GM makes controversial moves. I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Don't forget, if he had to make a move with Neal that this contract was almost as untradeable as Lucic's. If Neal could have performed like did over his past eight seasons I'm sure he wouldn't have had to do this. No one could have predicted Neal would completely derail like he did. I'm sure the players didn't quite expect that either.
If a Treliving got cut loose he'd find a job easily. I'm pretty happy to with him. Not sure who the owners would want based on their budget, or who the fans would want either that is available.
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