[Signing] Flames sign James Neal (5 years, 5.75 AAV)

[Stay Golden]

He looks like Chris Dingman and we have 4 more years of his nonsense.

[JT96912]

Foo scored 2 goals in 4 games last season. Let's throw him up to the big team on a line with Janko as center with Neal when he gets fully healthy. Might be worth a shot.

[dissentowner]

It is time to healthy scratch him. Not only is he not scoring he is taking dumb penalties and turning the puck over constantly. He needs to watch at least a game or two from the press box at this point. I want the guy to succeed but it isn't working right now.

[CaptainYooh]

He'll get warmed up by the playoffs. He always does.

[Dajazz]

Winning is nice, but oh man Neal had a bad game.

Tentative, slow, lack of timing.

[AC]

Originally Posted by Dajazz

Winning is nice, but oh man Neal had a bad game.

Tentative, slow, lack of timing.

He made a great chip to set Kylington up for his almost goal.

I won't criticize Neal for his slashing penalty, because it was baby#### soft and an awful call.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

He'll get warmed up by the playoffs. He always does.

Didn’t everyone say the same thing about Brouwer? I’ve seen that song and dance before.

The big difference is, Neal had good seasons before he started the playoffs. How will he just all of a sudden turn in to a great player when he’s been this awful this season. We’ve seen playoff style games this season and he didn’t stand out.

Anyone who sits and isolates his game will realize that his play and contract is extremely worrisome. I'm getting worse vibes in this situation than I did with Brouwer and Raymond.

[Strange Brew]

Raymond - 3 years
Brouwer - 4 years
Neal - 5 years

It’s like losing at blackjack but you keep increasing your bet because eventually you’ll win, right?

[ComixZone]

The depth the team has now has afforded Neal the time to struggle.

If we didn’t have Lindholm, and Neal had been bolted to the top line I bet he’d be having more success by now.

But hey, we’re a good team. Neal is part of it. Right now, he’s an overpaid 3rd line player with a long history of success. I’m still confident he’ll find his game.

Right now he has a CF% of 56%, a PDO of 96.4, a Shooting % of 4.49% when his career average is 11.8%.

He is not hurting the team, he’s just not scoring.

The optics definitely scream overpaid 3rd liner, but imagine if we get a good QB at the trade deadline for PP2 and PP2 starts generating?

I think the negativity being directed towards Neal is flat out overblown.

We’re the best damn team in the Western Conference and part of why we have so much success is that we can roll line after line of players that drive the game towards the oppositions net and grind them down during the course of a 60 minute game.

[Karl]

Neal still playing like general hot garbage and the trashings will continue until his play markedly improves.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

The depth the team has now has afforded Neal the time to struggle.

If we didn’t have Lindholm, and Neal had been bolted to the top line I bet he’d be having more success by now.

But hey, we’re a good team. Neal is part of it. Right now, he’s an overpaid 3rd line player with a long history of success. I’m still confident he’ll find his game.

Right now he has a CF% of 56%, a PDO of 96.4, a Shooting % of 4.49% when his career average is 11.8%.

He is not hurting the team, he’s just not scoring.

The optics definitely scream overpaid 3rd liner, but imagine if we get a good QB at the trade deadline for PP2 and PP2 starts generating?

I think the negativity being directed towards Neal is flat out overblown.

We’re the best damn team in the Western Conference and part of why we have so much success is that we can roll line after line of players that drive the game towards the oppositions need and grind them down during the course of a 60 minute game.

But he is often hurting the team defensively. Often not making good plays with the puck, turning it over and making his teammates work to get the puck back and not able to play adequate defense.

If you're not helping, you're hurting. Not always the case by any means mind you, but unfortunately that is the case for Neal.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Karl

But he is often hurting the team defensively.



If you're not helping, you're hurting. Not always the case by any means mind you, but unfortunately that is the case for Neal.

The stats don’t show this.

He may make the odd goof, but he is rarely the cause of goals against. A goal against is also generally the result of two or more players making a mistake on the same play as well.

He is helping. He’s driving the play toward the opposition’s net at a pretty damn good clip. If you look at last year, that’s where the 3rd and 4th lines were hurting the team. They were getting buried, and not scoring. This year those lines are driving the play, but just not scoring.

[dino7c]

You guys couldn't just enjoy a win?

[Karl]

Originally Posted by dino7c

You guys couldn't just enjoy a win?

This is a dedicated James Neal thread and there's next to nothing enjoyable about Neal's play right now.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by dino7c

You guys couldn't just enjoy a win?

I love it! I love this team. I’ve been a Flames fan for most of my life and this is far and away the best team I’ve been able to really watch (...couldn’t really appreciate the early 90s, far too young, and I was a toddler when the cup was won).

This season is a joy.

Originally Posted by Karl

This is a dedicated James Neal thread and there's next to nothing enjoyable about Neal's play right now.

I think you’re just focusing in on cap-hit and taking a negative spin on it. As a whole, Neal is not playing bad - he’s just not playing up to what your expectations of him were. Neal is a 20/20 guy when playing near the top of line-up and on the 1st power play unit. He hasn’t been in that role really at all this year. Instead, he’s just a 3rd liner driving the play North. It fills a role, just not the role we had originally planned for - and that’s awesome, because Zebulon coming in the way he has...it’s been transformative for this team.

[Husky]

A big issue i have with Neal is he is missing the chippy attitude he was kbown for in the past. Scoring is one thing but he isnt playing with a grouchy chippy attitude which he should be at least contributing.

[thymebalm]

Calgary Flames: +30
James Neal: -12 (ranked 642/684 Players with 10+ GP)

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Karl

There's next to nothing enjoyable about Neal's play right now.

Sure
Just seems odd that after a big ot win some rush to the Neal thread to complain a iutbthngs everyone already knows about
You are within your right to do so but strikes me as not an enjoyable way to be a fan

[Karl]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

The stats don’t show this.

He may make the odd goof, but he is rarely the cause of goals against. A goal against is also generally the result of two or more players making a mistake on the same play as well.

He is helping. He’s driving the play toward the opposition’s net at a pretty damn good clip. If you look at last year, that’s where the 3rd and 4th lines were hurting the team. They were getting buried, and not scoring. This year those lines are driving the play, but just not scoring.

No not really.

Neal is often looking like a busted 3rd wheel on his line. He's so slow he can barely keep up with the play most often, and when he gets a play to make, it rarely turns out well. He should be capable of playing much better but it's not looking very good for him at all right now or that promising.

And he's got to play better because you can't rely mostly on 1 line primarily carrying the majority of the offense almost all of the time.

[442scotty]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

The stats don’t show this.



He is helping. He’s driving the play toward the opposition’s net at a pretty damn good clip.

?????