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Originally Posted by JTech780
I agree. I think people that are saying the Oilers won this trade are basing it off of reputation. Neal has a reputation of being an elite goal scorer, which isn't the case anymore and hasn't been for sometime now, and Lucic has the reputation of being a bust with Edmonton and being nothing more than a knuckle dragger at this point, which isn't 100% accurate.
When you look closer at the numbers, the offense is much more comparable over the last 3 years, but Lucic shows to have better possession stats, be better defensively and be better physically.
Neal might bounce back and score 20 goals next season, though I doubt it, but he still will manage to drag down whatever line he is on because he is so bad defensively and really doesn't bring anything to the table.
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I think this is very much the case.
Just watched Mike Johnson (?) analyse this on Jay and (not) Dan. His first comment was that Neal is a 20 goal scorer "in his sleep". I heard that and my first thought was: did you watch a single Flames game last year?
But digesting it, I get the view. It's reputation, and it's well earned - he did have 10 straight 20-goal seasons. And if you think he is still a 20 goal scorer, then you have to think this trade is a win for the Oilers.
I am going to enjoy watching the media fawn over this trade from the Oilers' perspective each time Neal scores a goal. At no time will any of them actually ask if the Oilers are any better (they won't be), nor will they consider that the Flames are a substantially better team (they will be). They will simply say: Neal scores again - great trade for the Oilers. And I will chuckle each time.
But even if he scores 25 (which he probably will if he plays all year with McDavid and on PP1), the bottom line is that the Flames are a better team after this trade, and the Flames are by far the better of the two teams.
Looking at how many goals Neal scores, as the only way to evaluate the trade, is completely missing the forest for the trees.