Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
I think the thing that concerns me about this whole thing is the organization's inability or unwillingness to try to repair the relationship with the player.
Obviously, there were issues on and off the ice, and I'm willing to accept that Neal likely bears the lion's share. However, it also seems crazy that the relationship would implode so quickly from July 2, 2018.
We know that Neal's previous 3 teams were quality, successful organizations. It's fair to speculate whether Poile and GMGM were personally ready to drive him to the airport, but I think it's also fair to ask if there was something different about the Flames organization, or the core leadership group that contributed to this failure.
We know that Frolik had issues last year...a respected veteran with his name on the cup who spent three years in Chicago.
We suspect that Hamilton wasn't fully accepted for being a different kind of guy ...
Troy Brouwer.
Underperforming UFAs is not a problem unique to Calgary, but I think it's fair to consider whether this team hasn't developed a sufficient culture for winning. You can say that they should suck it up and be professionals, but the other team has pro-hockey players too. It's a game of millimeters and milliseconds - positive headspace/confidence and implicit trust in your teammates can be a big part of winning those micro-battles. This team simply hasn't figured out how to do that [in the playoffs], nor have they been able to integrate newcomers with experience on teams that had 'winning cultures'.
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From what I understand the Flames tried pretty hard last year with Neal. And Neal's issues were quite different than Frolik (assignment unhappiness), Hamilton (fit in the room) or Brouwer (plain old production and the downhill curve).