Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Has his leadership or presence amounted to any on ice results? The team had a 107 point season with Neal on the roster and regressed to a 94 point pace with the near identical roster outside of the Neal/Lucic swap. Meanwhile the Oilers got a lot better with a near identical roster outside of the Neal/Lucic swap. It can't be denied when Neal goes to a team they immediately improve. It's impossible to say if it's a fluke or anomaly but it's hard to ignore the trend. I get that the Peters issue played a role but I have seen zero evidence that Lucic's presence moves the needle as when you analyze the only thing that matters at the end of the day in points and standings the Oilers got better without him and the Flames got worse with him.
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I don't have a spreadsheet to back it up, and I didn't see enough Predator or Knights games four and three years ago ...
But the James Neal I've watched in the last two years has nothing to do with a bump in team success. In fact he's a drag the other way that was made up for.