Ongoing thread for Neal/Lucic discussion

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by Igottago

I am willing to bet that just yesterday 99% of this board would have agreed Lucic is an absolutely useless plug. That doesn't really change today. As bad as Neal was, I can't see Lucic having a better chance at contributing next season than Neal with a second chance would have. Not a fan of this deal.

We traded a useless plug for a useless plug.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by btimbit

https://twitter.com/user/status/1152314977354579968

Spoiler!

[The Cobra]

It's amazing how many posters are willing themselves to like this deal, when prior when it was rumoured, most hated it.

As a hockey trade it clearly stinks.

As bad as Neal is, Lucic is quite a bit worse. It's not even debatable.

But Calgary saves cap and money. These days, that's becoming more and more important. As we've seen in the trades to date around the NHL.

[Bonded]

Would be funny if the trade fell apart now

[the_only_turek_fan]

I am getting a Lucic jersey.

#### all of you.

I am drunk

[Aarongavey]

Maybe Treliving was worried about his reputation for fleecing other GM’s after the Lindholm deal and wanted to show that he can lose trades as well to open up trading avenues with other GM’s?

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

That's the price a GM pays for handing out poor contracts to players. Replacing one whipping boy for a worse whipping boy IMO isn't a solution.

I’m going to take the stance here that Lucic is better than Neal and that will be proven this coming season. While Neal May score more due to gifted minutes with McDavid, Lucic will make us a better team.

[topfiverecords]

The worst part of this trade is it feels like all of that mocking of the Oilers + Lucic since July 1st 2016 was a waste.

[Heavy Jack]

What about Brodie + Frolik for Palmieri??

Gaudreau - Monahan - Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Palmieri
Lucic - Ryan - Bennett
Mangiapane - Jankowski - Dube
Czarnik

Giordano - Andersson
Hanifin - Hamonic
Valimaki - Yelesin
Kylington

Rittich
Talbot

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Sandman

This reminds me of when we signed Bertuzzi-he was too old, slow, cement-headed, we're not fans any more,etc
He was a fan favorite by the end of the year....

Speak for yourself. Signing Bertuzzi was one of Darryl Sutter's two unforgivable sins here. The other was making it okay to trade with Edmonton.

Bertuzzi also had a great first six weeks, then was pretty much useless for the rest of that season. Not exactly anything we want Lucic to emulate.

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

I am getting a Lucic jersey.

#### all of you.

I am drunk

Get a tattoo on your face while your at it

[Psytic]

Originally Posted by Sandman

This reminds me of when we signed Bertuzzi-he was too old, slow, cement-headed, we're not fans any more,etc
He was a fan favorite by the end of the year....

I like your glass half full take on this. It makes me feel kind of better. I wouldn't have minded this if JP was coming back. Not seeing the value in 1 for 1 though. I Hope Lucic is working hard this offseason on getting his legs back.

[Jason14h]

Anyone asking why the Flames just didn't buy out Neal, the real $$ are huge.

In this deal the Flames save $7million. If they buy out Neal and spend the savings on another player/use all cap, they are spending 2/3 of $23 million remaining on his contract (15 million)

You think given the 2 options that $23 million in real dollars difference didn't matter to an ownership group that has not had long playoff revenue in years?

Also, anyone thinking in 4 years were forced to protect Lucic, I will give you 100-1 odds right now, minimum $100 bet!

The Flames options were:

1. Write a 15 million dollar check and save 4 million in cap space to make the team better

2. Save 7 million real dollars, and gain a small amount of cap space and a 4th line plug

3. Keep our 4th line plug

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Maybe Treliving was worried about his reputation for fleecing other GM’s after the Lindholm deal and wanted to show that he can lose trades as well to open up trading avenues with other GM’s?

HAH, that was one of the weirdest takes I have ever heard on a trade.

[FanIn80]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOCH

(You all know you're gonna.)

[btimbit]

People on other sites saying Friedman commented that there's no pick involved? Anyone else hear that? Must have been on the radio or tv or something, nothing on twitter. Didn't see it myself just passing on the rumour

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Duffalufagus

Which player has a better chance of scoring 20 goals next year? It ain’t Lucic.

The only upshot here is that Neal is only scoring 20 if McDavid carries his ass up and down the ice, and those gains will be completely wiped out by Alex Chiasson falling to about 4 or 5 goals.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Well on a serious note, the regular season should really be cut down by a good 20 games or so, but that won't happen because of stated reasons. And the regular season might be more meaningful if the rules didn't change once the playoffs start, calling it "playoff hockey" is just a cop-out

We've found some common ground. I agree the regular season is too long, both from a consumer and industry standpoint. Maybe by 10-12 games IMO. Reduced season would maintain my interest, and be more beneficial to the players as they wouldn't wear down as much.

Also agree the rules/officiating should remain the same throughout. Trying to build a team for 2 different types of games is ludicrous.

However, I could never just jump into playoff hockey without the precursor of the regular season.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

We acquired a $5.4 million Ryan Reaves. That's pretty much all he's good for at this point.

Sadly that is true. He is probably worse than Reaves too. At least he fills somewhat of a need on the team I guess.

Neal was beyond useless.

[Bonded]

Real question, if Neal doesn't bounce back is he worse than Lucic? I am still not sure but that is only thing that makes sense to me