[News] James Neal on waivers

[midniteowl]

Can I use this here?

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Tabaracci_31

Can we claim him and then simply not dress him? Just for kicks?

The league implemented a salary cap a while ago.

[Reggie Dunlop]

I wonder if it's a prelude to a trade.

(Okay, stop laughing).

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

I wonder if it's a prelude to a trade.

(Okay, stop laughing).

Knowing the Oilers, it would all be about trying to stack the top line:


To Edmonton:

Skinner


To Buffalo:

Neal (50% retained)
Bear
1st round pick (unprotected)


That would be funny.

[EVERLAST]

Oh this is so delicious....Mr Pouty pants ...I'll drag the whole locker room down POS.....

James James James ....finally the truth comes out.

Laughing SO So very hard . This made my week.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by EVERLAST

Oh this is so delicious....Mr Pouty pants ...I'll drag the whole locker room down POS.....

James James James ....finally the truth comes out.

Laughing SO So very hard . This made my week.

They should send him to the AHL to keep his toxic attitude away from the other players.

[Itse]

Lucic with solid 6 points in 13 games and Neal on his way to ve washed out completely?

Huh. Never thought that trade might end up a legit win.

[Inglewood Jack]

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Itse

Lucic with solid 6 points in 13 games and Neal on his way to ve washed out completely?

Huh. Never thought that trade might end up a legit win.

The trade has always been a win to me.

The signing of Neal was still the mistake, but the trade? The trade was always gold.

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

The trade has always been a win to me.

The signing of Neal was still the mistake, but the trade? The trade was always gold.

Not to mention the added 3rd round pick

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Itse

Lucic with solid 6 points in 13 games and Neal on his way to ve washed out completely?

Huh. Never thought that trade might end up a legit win.

The points are awesome but the biggest plus is lucic is a leader who always gives it his all and will stand up for his teammates no matter what, neal... well he used to be good at putting the puck in the net at some point in his career I guess

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Robo

The points are awesome but the biggest plus is lucic is a leader who always gives it his all and will stand up for his teammates no matter what, neal... well he used to be good at putting the puck in the net at some point in his career I guess

Leadership doesn't matter if the player is useless, which I expected Lucic to be. Glad to be wrong

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Moneyhands23

Not to mention the added 3rd round pick

Even buried, he counts 4.675 against their cap. Or 5.475 if you want to include the amount they retained on Lucic. The Neal signing was always the mistake, but being able to to manage the 5.75M cap hit that was his contract over the last couple years has been nothing but positive. Treliving reduced the cap hit to 5.25, got a 3rd, got a serviceable bottom six player, and more importantly removed a toxic player. If you had to pick a winner so far it is clearly tilted in one direction.

[Deegee]

The Twitter world is proclaiming that the ability to put Neal on waivers is why the Oilers won the trade.

What the hell?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Deegee

The Twitter world is proclaiming that the ability to put Neal on waivers is why the Oilers won the trade.

What the hell?

If someone were to actually claim him, then yeah OK. Otherwise, there is no benefit to putting him on waivers.

[Boreal]

I remember watching a game last year where Lucic followed up his own rebound with another shot.

He isn’t slow, the problem as the game gets faster is that he isn’t quick. When he loses confidence the lack of quickness is amplified in everything he does.

James Neal of course both slow and not quick. His top speed on zone entry looked to me like a guy trying to ride a horse whilst falling off.

[PaperBagger'14]

Good thing I made some bank on gamestop, now I can invest in tiny violins

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Boreal

I remember watching a game last year where Lucic followed up his own rebound with another shot.

He isn’t slow, the problem as the game gets faster is that he isn’t quick. When he loses confidence the lack of quickness is amplified in everything he does.

James Neal of course both slow and not quick. His top speed on zone entry looked to me like a guy trying to ride a horse whilst falling off.

His hockey IQ is actually pretty strong. I think he has come to terms with not being able to play the same north-south game that he used to, but his positioning is still pretty strong.

I don't think it is easy for a star player to adapt to new roles, but Lucic has done that and plays his role with dignity and pride. I don't think ego was ever an issue with him, but I think it's natural for players to experience some denial and a rough patch when their career starts to come full circle.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

His hockey IQ is actually pretty strong. I think he has come to terms with not being able to play the same north-south game that he used to, but his positioning is still pretty strong.

I don't think it is easy for a star player to adapt to new roles, but Lucic has done that and plays his role with dignity and pride. I don't think ego was ever an issue with him, but I think it's natural for players to experience some denial and a rough patch when their career starts to come full circle.

I think Lucic’s hockey IQ is way up there on the team. He sometimes tries something that doesn’t work, but only because his execution is off, not because it was a bad idea (eg his giveaway three or four games ago). He has a good notion of how to get the puck in both zones and makes a decent pass. And he works hard.

[Jetfire]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

The trade has always been a win to me.

The signing of Neal was still the mistake, but the trade? The trade was always gold.

I was really worried initially, but Lucic won me over very quickly giving more effort in like his first 3 games than Neal did in an entire season. I was a big fan of Lucic before Edmonton, but I didn't think he had anything left to offer, and to be fair the Oilers kinda sapped his soul towards the end there and he wasn't doing well. Glad we have him at this point, he's earning more of his contract than I ever expected he could.