The one thing positive to say about Neal, is that I do think he has a proven history of being able to play better with good players than the average bum.
He has a quick release and always been a great finisher. That’s about all he has, but that is a skill that can be leveraged with top players that create opportunities in close and can find him.
That is a skill that the Flames were unable to leverage and didn’t seem to have a viable plan in place to use it.
And that is why the trade works. It’s why Edmonton has to eat an additional $10m+ as well as a likely 3rd round pick.
Trades are supposed to benefit both teams. In this case it wasn’t about one player really being better than the other. It was about skill sets that could be better leveraged by one team more than another.
It’s completely fine Neal is producing. He is simply a better leach than other guys they used to have, like Chiasson - but let’s not oversell the effect Neal provides vs the alternative, as a lot of this is not his own doing and a function of opportunity with world class players.
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