I have not commented on this so far (I am sure the whole board has been waiting with baited breath
). I voted "like" for a few reasons:
1) I hate James Neal and what he brought (or rather the nothing he brought) last season. I kept thinking "anytime now, he will start scoring; the playoffs, for sure, he will finally bring it..." Fool me once, etc.
2) I have a neanderthal weakness for the face puncher. In particular, I think having the toughest, meanest face puncher brings a certain swagger to a team. I loved having Oliwa/Simon in 2004. I loved having McGrattan. I hated having nothing last year and seeing Hamonic get beat. Yes, fighting is on the way out, concussions, etc, etc, etc, but hockey is still a primitive game and toughness matters and we had none.
3) I was pleasantly surprised by Lucic's positive underlying numbers, which makes me think there is a bit more there player-wise than I thought.
4) If Lucic gives us Reaves level hockey, that is much better than Neal hockey, plus cap savings, plus better roster fit, and I think Lucic might just be a little better than Reaves - we shall see.
5) Again, back to my neanderthal thoughts, Lucic (or Reaves, as I was hoping for last summer) instead of Neal, will make a number of other players more effective.
6) Doesn't excuse the horrible Neal signing, but you know, this does make a bit of chicken salad out of the huge pile of chicken s***...