No doubt Neal became a mess of a player, but I've always found the "he was toxic to the room" sentiment a bit funny. The Flames room hasn't demonstrated anything resembling a winning culture. While his previous teams never went to any trouble to keep Neal, he didn't stop any of them from winning.
Dougie "misfit" Hamilton showed up on a Carolina team that had missed the playoffs 9 straight years, and has now won 3 real series in 3 years...which is exactly 3 more than Calgary.
|