Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
How's that? Are the Flames worse off because of the trade? I don't see it.
|
Truth be told, they very well could be.
I think it's unlikely that Lucic matches Neal's offensive output of last year, while his vaunted truculence won't really matter much come playoff time when he's getting 10 minutes ice time tops and stapled to the bench in any high pressure situation. Assuming he even gets into the line up by that point.
And while people are leaning heavily on advanced stats to dismiss Neal's contributions to the Oilers thus far, they don't seem to have realized that Lucic is easily the second-worst forward on the Flames in that department. And between you and me, I expect Sam Bennett to improve. I don't expect Lucic will.