Quote:
Originally Posted by Tron_fdc
My James Neal "eye test" says he's too slow to get his shots off, which is a byproduct of being too slow into high danger areas when the play develops. It seems to me that it's pretty rare that he gets a high quality shot off in the danger areas because he doesn't have enough time. The ones he does get off are blocked, shot wide or are (for the most part) rushed muffins.
Just my opinion of course.
|
Like your opinion. I see the exact same thing. His past goals from highlights looks heavy and lethal. But with the Flames, all we've seen are his low percentage muffin from the perimeter. I know people have been saying his sh% is unsustainably low all season long. But I don't. I don't see a guy who's ready to pop and score 10 in 10, or even 5 in 10 for that matter.
He isn't fast enough to break apart from his defender to get open. His footwork/agility is unimpressive which keeps him from getting lethal shots off unless it's a perfect pass. If you're the opposition, all you really have to do to shut Neal down right now is play him man to man, stay in front of him and he's quiet. Neal is making it way too easy to defend him.
You can tell his teammates are trying to get him the puck in good spots and he's getting the ice time to figure it all out, but it just seems like it's all for nothing. Personally, I'd like to see him transform his game completely. He's got a big body and he's hard to move, so he should start getting to the front of the net and scoring the greasy goals like Tkachuk. The rebound goals, the tip ins, the goal mouth scrambles. He just has to do something different now because there's no way a proud goal scorer like him can possibly be ok with a 7 goal pace.