Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
I don't give a #### about Neal. He's gone. Lock the ####ing trade thread and get over the deal. It's done. But Lucic is garbage. He is not awesome. He is complete trash that can't play in the current NHL with any level of efficacy. He is a waste of cap space and the Flames made a massive mistake bringing him in. They have better players in the minors making a lot less money. Lucic is junk.
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100% right. I think everyone wants to justify what was done, but what's apparent was Neal was dealt at his lowest point possible, and it was unnecessary to go to deal him in favour of dead weight. So the question is why did management deem Neal unreturnable to the Flames at essentially any cost? I think it really comes down to it was the coach and/or upper management did not want him back at all, when this should have been a reclamation project and then you deal him. I don't think dealing Neal was the problem. It was the cost for doing so and that was far worse. Dealing guys at their lowest because a coach or someone didn't like them has never worked out for getting a good return. There was no upside with getting Lucic. This was a bad trade from day 1 and is just as bad as it looked on that day. No worse, no less.