Quote:
Originally Posted by flamingred89
I think there is a lot more to this story than just an aging player who lost a step. For a 40 goal scorer who’s supposed to be a beast in the playoffs, why is he on his 5th team in 9 years? His stats the last 5 years have been fairly pedestrian. I’m thinking he’s a player who benefitted from some good line mates in Pittsburgh and has worn out his welcome everywhere else.
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The comments about Neal's dressing-room value and personality are hard to figure out. He seems to be a big personality. Confident. But he also rubs some people the wrong way.
Back before the Flames signed him, I looked up a few articles from his previous cities, and several of them were not complementary. An article from Pittsburgh said "his act wears thin after a while" and suggested the rest of the team weren't sad to see him go. One from Nashville said he was a polarizing personality. Hard to say what happens behind closed doors, but there does seem to be something of a cloud around Neal.