Well said Oil Stain. The deal to dump Neal was a dumb one because it tied up so much money that prevented the Flames from addressing an immediate need to take advantage of an opportunity window. It was a mistake (the Neal contract) compounded by a bigger mistake (taking on the Lucic contract). Edmonton has $2.75M in dead cap space to deal with as a result, but the Flames received $4M in dead space because of having to overpay for a player not worth contract and being completely unmovable. That cost them in being able to bring in another player that could contribute up front and prevented possible success while we had players on good contracts. Both teams lost in the deal, but I still think the Flames took it on the chin harder. The Oilers also know how to school the system (see Mike Smith) and make that dead cap disappear which the Flames refuse to do, which only compounds the issue.
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