[CP Story] Makings Sense of the Lucic Trade

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by thefoss1957

@Ricosuave asked for outsider opinion on the Neal/Lucic trade.

Bad contract for bad contract deal, to gain a little cap space?

I feel that the Neal/Peters personal dynamic must have been the driving factor, as it must have been worse than assumed. Why else trade within the division? Why take the Oil's mistake?

The trade leaves more questions than answers, buying out gains nothing, the market for Lucic is soft on spinning him off near the trade deadline, and there was no clear need to muscle up the lineup.

The Flames now have an irritant in Matt T. and some muscle in Lucic, but, at the cost of putting a slower skater out in your forward set. Lucic, I expect, will only be used at ES and as a PP screener, lacking the versatility that Neal has demonstrated.

But, if Neal didn't want to be in Calgary, or had a fundamental antagonism with Peters, then a bad contract for bad contract "change of scenery" move may have been the only option.

We did have a clear need to add muscle though. Our star player is tiny and many of our top young forwards aren’t huge either (Mangiapane, Dube, Phillips, Svenningson, Peterson, Zav, Koumoubtzis, etc). The whistles get put away in the playoffs and you need powerforwards or physical players to help make room for the smaller players by winning board battles, protecting pucks, screening goalies. We just lost Hathaway. The team was looking extremely soft. Yeah it’s a skill and skating league but powerforwards still have a valuable role. Lucic may not be as offensive as the past but we can still badly use his size, strength and physicality.

I think one element that is underrated is that big hits tend to fire up the fans which in turn gives energy to the Flames. You want at least one forward who can throw some real bangers in a Canadian market. Firing up the home fans can really help the team in turn.

Neal did not demonstrate any versatility for us. Couldn’t get anything out of him in any situation. He dragged lines down with his lazy unengaged floaty slow play. It sounds like I’m exaggerating but it was actually that bad!

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

A Lucic-Bennett-Tkachuk can only go one of two ways. Brilliant or a total disaster.

Might be a good playoff line when the whistles get put away though.

They don't have to be on the same line, just take turns throwing logs on the same bonfire.

[Poster]

For all the glass half full supporters, let me ask.

If the Canucks traded for Lucic, would any single one of you be not laughing at them? Canucks fans would pull out all the advanced stats and other rationalizations that Flames fan are using now and it would be entirely dismissed as nonsense.

This is a terrible contract and there is no way around that not too mention Flames got almost nothing for helping the Oilers out of a major problem.

This is how BAD they wanted Neal out of the dressing room, period.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Poster

For all the glass half full supporters, let me ask.

If the Canucks traded for Lucic, would any single one of you be not laughing at them? Canucks fans would pull out all the advanced stats and other rationalizations that Flames fan are using now and it would be entirely dismissed as nonsense.

This is a terrible contract and there is no way around that not too mention Flames got almost nothing for helping the Oilers out of a major problem.

This is how BAD they wanted Neal out of the dressing room, period.

Look at the two bolded sentences - there's your answer

[Poster]

That wasn’t my question.

Just admit there wouldnt be this kind of spin allowed if Canucks dealt for him.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by Poster

For all the glass half full supporters, let me ask.

If the Canucks traded for Lucic, would any single one of you be not laughing at them? Canucks fans would pull out all the advanced stats and other rationalizations that Flames fan are using now and it would be entirely dismissed as nonsense.

This is a terrible contract and there is no way around that not too mention Flames got almost nothing for helping the Oilers out of a major problem.

This is how BAD they wanted Neal out of the dressing room, period.

I would not be laughing at them, but I am laughing at the Canucks for signing a player that’s one major hit away from a career ending injury to a 4 year deal.

[bettercallbettman]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

I would not be laughing at them, but I am laughing at the Canucks for signing a player that’s one major hit away from a career ending injury to a 4 year deal.

Wow. Harsh words

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Poster

That wasn’t my question.

Just admit there wouldnt be this kind of spin allowed if Canucks dealt for him.

Of course not. He wears our jersey now.

Although if that meant Loui went to Edmonton, we’d be making fun of Edmonton.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Poster

That wasn’t my question.

Just admit there wouldnt be this kind of spin allowed if Canucks dealt for him.

What is your point and who cares?

But if you want to go find wherever Canucks fans gather, presumably around a still burning barrel, they might get a kick out of that.

Because they obviously have low standards

Because the Canucks suck

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Poster

For all the glass half full supporters, let me ask.

If the Canucks traded for Lucic, would any single one of you be not laughing at them? Canucks fans would pull out all the advanced stats and other rationalizations that Flames fan are using now and it would be entirely dismissed as nonsense.

This is a terrible contract and there is no way around that not too mention Flames got almost nothing for helping the Oilers out of a major problem.

This is how BAD they wanted Neal out of the dressing room, period.

Of course we would
Because we are sports fans.
Cripes when did that become a bad thing.

Vancouver sucks
Edmonton is no good
And the Flames are awesome

But the actual truth lies somewhere in the middle between how fans would feel if the Canucks had done this and how fans feel since the Flames did it

Folks have gone to lengths to explain the rationale behind the deal. So you don't have to love it - but it does make some sense.

But the constant snobbish looking down at fans for being fans is tiresome.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by Poster

That wasn’t my question.

Just admit there wouldnt be this kind of spin allowed if Canucks dealt for him.

Do you think getting people to admit this is some sort of... I don't know, victory? Of course most are reacting differently. I would. I admit it!

[Fighting Banana Slug]

If the Canucks got rid of a player as bad as Neal and saved a bit of cap space, I'd say meh.

[Poster]

Alright folks. If you are ok being hypocrites, go at it!

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Poster

Alright folks. If you are ok being hypocrites, go at it!

[CanadaMatt]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

What is your point and who cares?

Would you stop saying this to everybody who dares have a different opinion than you, it’s really embarrassing and cringeworthy

[Matt Reeeeead]

This is a Flames fan message board. It’s not hypocritical to have a desire to dig deeper to try to find a ray of sunshine on a Flames player, while also looking for the easy way out on a Canuck. It’s meant to be fun.... it’s not a United Nations debate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Poster]

@matt Reeeeed

That’s a really astute and fair comment. I buy that and appreciate the intellectual honesty




For some reason I am unable to quote replies on mobile or PC, not sure why.

[868904]

I love having Lucic on the team. Can’t wait for the season to start.

Is Colorado up first? I hope so. So much reason to let that game get out of hand. Tkachuk will be pissed. Bennett was looking for a fight all series. Hopefully Gio wipes the floor with Kadri for turning us down. No better way for Looch to endear himself to his new teammates than breaking some Avs.

That playoff loss stung and I’ve been pretty melancoly about the new season but this Lucic acquisition has me fired up.

Cant wait to play the Sharks too with Looch in red and of course the Oilers, Kassian fought Maroon last year, I wonder if he will go with Looch.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Poster

That wasn’t my question.

Just admit there wouldnt be this kind of spin allowed if Canucks dealt for him.

Bingos fancy stat analysis is basically exactly the same as what out of town number crunchers are saying, so I think you're just wrong there. Really so is the rest of what he's saying. It might be worded a bit more positive, but there's no real difference in actual content.

Having just today spent a couple of hours reading/listening to various out of town opinions, I would say neutral(ish) hockey analysts tend to kind of side with the glass half full people.

Yes Neal is much more likely to bounce back so Edmonton likely "wins the trade", yes Lucic has a terrible contract from a buyout perspective, but Lucic does make more sense as a depth player, so if Calgary wasn't going to buy out Neal then this trade does save some cap space and a lot of real dollars.

That's what the "glass half full" people are mostly saying on CP too.

[Red]

To me the Oilers needed a top 6 scoring winger and the Flames needed toughness.
Lucic will deliver toughness, will Neal score 25?

Salaries aside, which are brutal both teams are just trying to fill a need while having their hands tied.

Treliving is not out there trying to win a trade. He is trying to improve the team. After the exit we witnessed it's hard to argue that he addressed a huge void. IMO the team was butter soft. They could score with the best of them so Neal was expandable.

We got a very pricy goon that can play a bottom 6 game.
Going in to game 4 last of last playoffs I'd go with Lucic over a completely useless Neal. That's what Tre probably looked at.
Lucic at the very least gives guys like Dube and Mangipane some space. Neal took space from them and contributed nothing.