Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainYooh
While I do understand the math and the logic of this trade, this is still a crap-for-crap trade with more downside to Calgary than to Edmonton. Neal had only one bad season and there is a reasonable expectation of him rebounding to have a better or even a much better season on McDavid's wing. Lucic had been in Edmonton for three seasons with both goal and point production declining in each one. There is no expectation of Lucic rebounding, as he cannot play on the top wing anymore. So, while Edmonton's potential reward in this crappy trade is a scoring top-line winger, Calgary's potential reward is a hugely overpriced Hathaway that can add some grit to the 3rd or 4th line. That's it.
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I tried to point out earlier in the thread that Lucic’s decline was correlated with deployment
Year 1 - ~50 points
Year 2 - 1st half - 27 points w/ Nuge, still on a >50 point pace
Year 2 - 2nd half - 7 pts w/ more time with assorted linemates like end of career Cammalleri, Khaira, etc.
Year 3 - most frequent line mates were Brodziak and Kassian - 20 pts. The Flames don’t even have players to offer to create a line that bad right now.
Comparatively, Neal got 41 and 44 points the two years prior. Not worse than Lucic, and with better linemates.
James Neal in Calgary - just a ridiculous lack of effort. The excuse about long off season, conditioning, etc. stopped being relevant 10-20 games in. Gifting him ice time should have rubbed some teammates the wrong way. I think it led to the situation with Frolik’s agent, and we know Backlund and Frolik have been close. His other teammates aren’t stupid. It’s insulting to pull down that paycheque and just not give a crap.
I am absolutely sure this is addition by subtraction because I watched his awful play. I can’t see how he endeared himself to his teammates any more than to the fans.
If we compare Lucic next year to anything, it should be what James Neal contributed as a Flame last year. Year over year, what does it do for the Flames? Not what Neal does for Edmonton next year.
For Lucic to bring more than Neal did last year, (and at 500 K less cap hit) is a low, low bar.
It’s weird. I used to like Lucic when he was helping beat Vancouver and then playing with iggy. Then he went to Edmonton and I really disliked him. All of a sudden I like him again.