Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinny01
So you are ragging on Lucic’s 50pt season in Edmonton? In the last 3 years Neal has failed to score 45pts in a single season which is a significant decline from his 58pts 4 years ago. Neal has been trending down for 3 years as well unless his climb from 41ptsmin his last year in Nashville to 45pts in Vegas is a big step forward?
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I am not ragging on him. But he went from playing on a line with Cater and getting 55 points to playing with McDavid and getting 50 points. That has to be looked at with some apprehension when a player moves to a more skilled line and produces less, even if just marginally. If his skills weren't diminishing, he should have increased his production easily. Then he played himself off that line the following 2 seasons and his production plummeted to 3rd and 4th line levels. That is 3 straight seasons of diminishing contributions.
Neal has peaks and valleys in production, but nothing that suggests a trend at this point.
Like I said in other posts, I am on-board with the trade, I am just saying that the deal has much better potential for the Oilers. I bet Treliving even agrees as he made the Oilers retain salary and throw in a conditional draft pick to even it out a little more.