I don't even blame Treliving for signing Neal. The idea seemed like a perfect fit.
He was exactly what the team needed. A veteran scoring winger with some grit, that has a ton of playoff experience. You can't really fault him for the term, you don't get UFA's of that status for less than 3 years. Who saw this imploding like it has? In my mind, last summer the worst case scenario for the signing was an overpaid aging player in years 4 and 5 of the deal. Yet here we are.
Compounding the problem is that this wasn't a guy who wanted to be here but had a bad year and was gearing up for a rebound year. He wanted out, so how do you keep him and hope he rebounds? Kudos to those involved for keeping the situation under wraps. This sounded like a terrible situation that could have become worse.
You're not just going to trade Neal for a 7th and reap the rewards of the cap space. It was a problem contract for a problem contract. I don't buy the buyout implications, they weren't going to buyout Neal anytime soon anyways. You can't carry that much dead weight.
I'm not happy about it. But I think its trying to make the best of a crappy situation. At least with Lucic we now hopefully will have a motivated player who understands and accepts his fit on the team and can maybe provide a little what the team is lacking.
As far as Trelivings track record goes, I don't think its as tainted as people seem to be suggesting. I don't blame him for Raymond, a 3 year 3aav contract was not a big deal and the team needed NHL players in the post Feaster era. I don't blame him for Bollig, same reason.
It started with Brouwer. Terrible signing and people were concerned about his underlying numbers. But really the team needed a player like the one they thought they were getting. I wonder how Brouwer would have fit, if he didn't play under Gulutzan.
Frolik was a good signing.
And Neal. 2 big misses on the UFA front. Do you blame the pro scouts? I don't know. To me the team needed those types of players when the signings happened, many predicted below average performances, but who foresaw to complete crash and burn?
I just don't really lay the UFA signing at the feet of Treliving as grounds for the hot seat. If anything its the Goaltending situation that could come back to bite him.
Anyhoo, this trade is ugly. But its not franchise crippling. Its fermenting garbage for motivated, and good fit garbage at a 500K discount.
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