Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
First off you can never be wrong in what you see. That's yours to own.
I guess where I'm coming from is that Neal was a negative contributor all year. If his offence dries up and the Flames get a winger that isn't a negative contributor than they take a baby step ahead.
In this game he was a positive contributor for sure, but he'll never be flashy or carry the play, I don't expect that at all.
Early returns this year have Neal at 45.9% xGF%, and Lucic at 49.0% after a terrible start.
So things are starting to settle in as expected.
This season Lucic has had 2 stinkers, 2 just under water, 2 just above water, and then his last game which was very good.
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For me going forward, I'm not playing the Lucic - Neal comparison because I agree with you on Neal. His effort level looks 100% improved, but he still looks terrible. There was a sequence in the last oiler game I watched where he bobbled the puck 3 times in one possession coming out of his own zone before dumping it into the corner and having it ramp up off the glass and out. He was absolutely huffing and puffing, doing his damndest and it was like watching me handle the puck.
I've wathced a couple of oiler games this year and I think Neal looks flat out horrible in terms of his ability to handle pucks and passes, his skating etc etc. He looks borderline done to me as a player still.
It just happens that he can still jam in pucks.
My sourpuss is about cap space being a hugely valuable commodity this year and helping the oilers escape Lucic Cap Jail, and really, it's about not moving heaven and earth to get the Sens to take Neal in a deal that brought back Stone.
Neal still sucks just as much as he did in Calgary, it's just that now he's a sucky player trying really hard.