Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
Example three. Lucic will struggle to even meet Neal's meager output last season. But that is irrelevant as the player Lucic is replacing is a guy that was scratched in the post season. Neal wasn't going to be here, so the issue is not what replaced him in trade, but is what salary could be recouped from the awful free agent signing. Any possible benefit we could have received from moving Neal and his albatross contract was greatly exceeded by the terrible contract that Treliving agreed to take on in return. Gone is the potential to have cap space to supplement the team in any realistic way. This is the potential that should have been front and center for Treliving, not trying to be square on the contract. Instead of having $1.9M in dead cap space, the Flames are now stuck with an immovable $4.5M and a roster spot being consumed. That isn't negligible.
So when you add it all up, we're likely not going to be seeing the repeat of the career years. We got worse in the role player department. Any possible cap space we could have possibly had to play with as a result of Neal's departure has already been consumed by a player that would struggle to make most rosters. Any possible hopes of finding some help without carving an additional salary out of the mix has been dashed. Deals now can't be just cap neutral, we have to start looking for buying some cap space in players we deal because of the worst contract in hockey. The results won't be negligible. Treliving has handcuffed himself and dropped the keys.
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You keep going back to an option that I firmly believe didn't exist.
He couldn't buy him out.
So you can choose from two options
1) Bring Neal back and hope it works out on the ice and in the room
2) Trade him for an equally bad contract with a player that maybe fits
Treliving took 2), added a physical element and a better room presence. Nobody is suggesting Lucic is a great addition, but that he's a better fit than what Neal would be.
They saved some cap, saved a lot of actual dollars, and maybe made the team a little harder to play against.