This is a bad trade. It’s pretty simple. Is it going to sink the team? No, because it also was a trade that basically just slightly worsened a previous absolutely terrible move.
No. This is simple.
Cap hit is lower, albeit slightly. (hard to see how this is not better)
What would Lucic have to do on the ice to do worse than Neal did last year? (very difficult to imagine what could possibly be worse at all)
Does Lucic bring anything that Neal didn’t, that the Flames need?
I love it and I will tell you why. Lucic will be a beast next year again. He had a good first year in Edmonton before his will to compete was sucked clean by that organization. I have heard his training regime this off season is geared to get him back to the weight and skill he played at in Boston. He is going to be highly motivated to shut up a lot of media and people as well as stick it to the provincial rivals. Watch this video and even if we get a lower version of this guy we still come out miles ahead of having James The Slow Mo Neal.
Just change the welcome at the end of the video to good riddance!
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James "The Real Deal" Neal might be the most inaccurate nickname in the history of sport.
I love that he has been sent to Edmonton, something really awesome and has a ring of poetic justice or instant karma or something like that. That's the effort you bring after signing such a big contract? That's all you've got? Fine, now you're an Oiler. Enjoy.
Good riddance.
Lol, I didn't learn of that nickname until he came to the Flames... and I thought it was silly when I was happy to have him!
Going to be fun to see Edmonton marketing push that out all year
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I put dislike as I think from a statistical standpoint there's a better chance Neal has a better season than Lucic next season, which will make the trade look like a loss.
I do like that Lucic brings some much needed toughness though, and maybe that alone will make him a bit of a fan favorite. That would be better than becoming a new whipping boy.
Hoping it works out but overall I still don't think it made a lot of sense.
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A few weeks after crashing head-first into the boards (denting his helmet and being unable to move for a little while) following a hit from behind by Bob Errey, the Calgary Flames player explains:
"I was like Christ, lying on my back, with my arms outstretched, crucified"
-- Frank Musil - Early January 1994
Luckily you're not forced to frequent this site then. Cess pools, glass wearing.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Sorry for pointing out that you run the most flames-red glass wearing site on the internet. I don’t frequent often, for the aforementioned reasons. And ya, proving my point. Dissenters not welcome
Sorry for pointing out that you run the most flames-red glass wearing site on the internet. I don’t frequent often, for the aforementioned reasons. And ya, proving my point. Dissenters not welcome
I have been here for years and have felt plenty of welcome.
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When I said ‘only’ I was perhaps being to exclusive in that I was trying to refer to Calgary Flames fandom spots, I was not meaning that other teams fandoms do not contain cess pools of extreme homer-dom. I was merely saying that this place is far and away the worst in regards to the Flames related fandom spots I frequent.
To your point, the ‘debate and discussion’ here typically starts with much mixed reaction to a move and then the same typical red glass wearing fans do insanely impressive mental gymnastics to explain a move away until they’ve convinced enough people that they can then turn to berating dissenters.
This is a bad trade. It’s pretty simple. Is it going to sink the team? No, because it also was a trade that basically just slightly worsened a previous absolutely terrible move.
First off, by my count... there was more 'indifferent' and 'dislike' when you posted that. Even a quick cruise of the posts above you shows what the mentality of this fresh thread was when you jumped in with your zinger. So you're not going to convince anyone that you were heroically wading into a cesspool of extreme homer-dom.
Secondly, the media (The Athletic and NHL.com specifically) were what talked a lot of us off the ledge. Generally, I find that homerism is called out here quite a bit. I don't know if if's the least amount of all sports teams ever... but the homers around here don't usually get a lot of traction when things don't add up. The optimistic sports fan may align with the homer to put some good news behind their entertainment - but don't confuse this for a blind homer that pays money for a crap product that everyone knows is crap. Liking to hear the positive side of something makes a lot of sense when you remember this is entertainment.
If you think for one second that the homers of this team are jumping for joy that Milan Lucic is a Flame, you're out of your mind. The homers are either quiet, or angry about this from my count. This is a bad trade, for sure - few here wanted Lucic.
But if this place is "far and away the worst in regards to the Flames related fandom spots you frequent", then you are more than welcome to #### right off.
Sorry for pointing out that you run the most flames-red glass wearing site on the internet. I don’t frequent often, for the aforementioned reasons. And ya, proving my point. Dissenters not welcome
Here's a little project for you.
Search the 20 years that I've run this site and find some comments of me asking people to leave because I disagree with them.
Good luck
I didn't even ban you, just said you should leave if the site sucks so much.
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Indifferent. Crap player for crap player, at least Lucic is cheaper I guess. Would have liked the sweetener to be a bit better, like a 3rd with no conditions or at least becomes a 4th when Neal doesn't meet them.
Doesn't tilt the scale much as far as what happens on the ice
No. This is simple.
Cap hit is lower, albeit slightly. (hard to see how this is not better)
What would Lucic have to do on the ice to do worse than Neal did last year? (very difficult to imagine what could possibly be worse at all)
Does Lucic bring anything that Neal didn’t, that the Flames need?
I don’t see your ‘slight worsening’.
Really ignoring the albatross contract here but ok. I guess previous poster already alluded to how it saves the Flames owners some cash so we should be happy with that. Lol. Pretty major consensus across hockey world that Neal has a much better chance of bouncing back, and if he doesn’t then you buy him out after next season. No option with Lucic, virtually no reason to believe he will become anything but a negative WAR player again, and no chance to buy out his contract (at least with any meaningful cap savings). Doing favours for the Oilers isn’t my idea of a good move.
Really ignoring the albatross contract here but ok. I guess previous poster already alluded to how it saves the Flames owners some cash so we should be happy with that. Lol. Pretty major consensus across hockey world that Neal has a much better chance of bouncing back, and if he doesn’t then you buy him out after next season. No option with Lucic, virtually no reason to believe he will become anything but a negative WAR player again, and no chance to buy out his contract (at least with any meaningful cap savings). Doing favours for the Oilers isn’t my idea of a good move.
Sure, the rest of the hockey world didn't watch him 82 times last year though.
Really ignoring the albatross contract here but ok. I guess previous poster already alluded to how it saves the Flames owners some cash so we should be happy with that. Lol. Pretty major consensus across hockey world that Neal has a much better chance of bouncing back, and if he doesn’t then you buy him out after next season. No option with Lucic, virtually no reason to believe he will become anything but a negative WAR player again, and no chance to buy out his contract (at least with any meaningful cap savings). Doing favours for the Oilers isn’t my idea of a good move.
Lucic was a positive WAR player last season, 4th on the Oilers.
Neal was the second worst WAR player in Calgary last year and a negative.
Sure, the rest of the hockey world didn't watch him 82 times last year though.
Love fans that think that because they watched more of the games that they have a more valid opinion.
Anyhow, regardless of whether Neal bounces back, which I certainly do not think he does, his contract can be bought out. You just give him one more year and then buy him out. If that was untenable because of locker room issues, as has been alluded to from many sources, then you just buy him out now and be done with it. You don’t lock yourself into a worse contract for an equally bad player.
This is the stupidest ####ing discussion I've ever seen. Some of you all need to get a damn grip and show the ####ing cancer surviving owner of this site a little bit of respect. He runs a ####ing terrific site and there's no grey room in the statement. Pardon my french, but I think many of you are completely off the ball here. It's a poll, not a flaming pile of poo on your doorstep. It's the offseason, can we all have a little discussion without devolving into one-upsmanship and combativeness?
Accusing Bingo of running a site tailored for the wrong kind of fan is just blatantly off-base in every direction.
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I'm sorry I have a different opinion than you want me to have. Also don't play the cancer card on me you have NO IDEA what I am going through right now. The fact you're attacking me and trying to make things personal is way out of line.
Wow someone needs to get a thicker skin. Bingo wasn’t attacking you or getting personal from my perspective. Dial down the defensiveness. If you can’t handle reactions to your reaction then maybe don’t make your reactions public?
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I think you are over reacting to the criticism here.
It’s reasonable and in fact important to discuss the reliability of polling information when using the results to support an argument.
I go back to the Olympic poll when the choices were Yes / plebiscite / NO or something like that. Then in the discussion a lot of people assumed that the plebiscite people were no’s based which is not supported by the question.
Overall It’s not a big deal just something to consider when building polls. The questions and answers chosen affect the results you will get and the discussion of those affects is reasonable
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Really ignoring the albatross contract here but ok. I guess previous poster already alluded to how it saves the Flames owners some cash so we should be happy with that. Lol. Pretty major consensus across hockey world that Neal has a much better chance of bouncing back, and if he doesn’t then you buy him out after next season. No option with Lucic, virtually no reason to believe he will become anything but a negative WAR player again, and no chance to buy out his contract (at least with any meaningful cap savings). Doing favours for the Oilers isn’t my idea of a good move.
Beyond facts shared by Bingo about WAR, I don’t think it does the Oilers that significant of a favour.
I had to laugh at an Oilers fan I was talking to, because their justification of the win was that Neal’s contract could be bought out if necessary.
That is a loser attitude, isn’t it?
The Oilers are sitting on 4 million of buyouts this year plus Lucic’s 750.
Sure, it drops to only Sekera at 1.5 (plus Lucic 750) after the next 2 seasons.
Adding another 1.9 for a Neal buyout is a win? Do they intend to carry 4 million in buyout money on a perpetual basis?
Look. Based on his last year’s body of work, Neal sucks. Doesn’t make players around him better. Any goals he gets are goals that guys like Kassian and Chiasson would get.
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