Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacks
Some of the oiler homers crack me up, Neal isn't going to make a difference to that team.
If Neal is on the top line:
Neal 20 goals
Chaisson 5-10 goals
If Chaisson is on the top line:
Chaisson 20 goals
Neal 5-10 goals
It's not like they are adding 20 goals here, they are adding 5-10 but then you minus off the 5-10 that Lucic would have provided and it's basically a wash. Except of course that they have additional cap and Neal is more useless than Lucic in the bottom 6 if they have to play him there. The only real win they have is the ability to buy him out easier which will bring their dead cap space up to about 6.5M. I still don't like the trade because I don't like the Lucic contract but this is hardly a home run for them either. Enjoy that $27.5M top line with McLotto dragging an anchor boys.
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You're absolutely right.
I mentioned in a previous post that if Neal scores 20+ goals next year, the real benefit might be increasing the liquidity of Neal's contract. Perhaps, after scoring 20+ goals, a team would be more willing to make a trade for Neal (with money retained). This didn't work with Chiasson not getting much interest, but Neal has a bit more pedigree (in my opinion)
If Holland can get Neal to produce 20+ goals with top 6 minutes and PP1 time, and then ship that contract out (all or part) the following off season, then he's done really well.