Not much. But on either unit he was misused IMO. One of the relatively few complains I have with Peters is that he put Neal as the netfront guy instead of an off wing trigger man.
Our PP didn't use an off-wing trigger man until late in the season where we lined Andersson up on his off-side on the blueline.
That's more of a Geoff Ward decision than a Peters, but Peters is of course involved.
Not much. But on either unit he was misused IMO. One of the relatively few complains I have with Peters is that he put Neal as the netfront guy instead of an off wing trigger man.
Not much. But on either unit he was misused IMO. One of the relatively few complains I have with Peters is that he put Neal as the netfront guy instead of an off wing trigger man.
His Vegas goals were mostly in front of the net, tips and sniping rebounds. I haven’t seen many examples of him scoring the Stamkos or Ovi way, and yet it seems to be how fans see him.
His Vegas goals were mostly in front of the net, tips and sniping rebounds. I haven’t seen many examples of him scoring the Stamkos or Ovi way, and yet it seems to be how fans see him.
I think a lot of us were sold that he was a "true sniper" by the media/reading into his reputation, but what he actually seems to be is more of a opportunistic/positional shooter where he uses his body to protect the puck/get in tight and then take a quick shot/tip/pound in a rebound. Even if you look back at his Vegas goals, there are very few perfectly placed brilliant shots. He's a garbage man, who for some reason we (myself included) believed was some sort of pure sniper.
He needs to play in the dirty areas, and last year he just didn't. The funny thing is Neal will score 20-30G next year - but I envision the vast majority of them being at the expense of Chiasson's spot. Garbage man on the PP.
...which then relegates Chiasson to...what exactly?
Last edited by ComixZone; 07-24-2019 at 10:00 AM.
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I think a lot of us were sold that he was a "true sniper", but what he actually seems to be is more of a opportunistic/positional shooter where he uses his body to protect the puck/get in tight and then take a quick shot/tip/pound in a rebound. Even if you look back at his Vegas goals, there are very few perfectly placed brilliant shots. He's a garbage man, who for some reason we (myself included) believed was some sort of pure sniper.
He needs to play in the dirty areas, and last year he just didn't.
Yeah for sure. The front of the net is where he was successful in Vegas.
I wonder how much of it was a bit more motivation with a lot more luck.... because his skating doesn’t look great here either.
How much time did Neal get on PP1 last year? Or did they pretty much stick with 13-19-23-28 as the four forwards? I remember him being completely useless even when gifted time on PP2, although the personnel was obviously less skilled/talented...
23% of the time he was with at least one of Gaudreau, Monahan, Lindholm or Tkachuk.
Yeah for sure. The front of the net is where he was successful in Vegas.
I wonder how much of it was a bit more motivation with a lot more luck.... because his skating doesn’t look great here either.
That's one of the reasons why I think he has good bounce back potential. Neal has never been a good skater and was successful in spite of that. When it comes to skating, age isn't as much of a factor for players like him.
His biggest problem last season seemed like motivation. He didn't get on the top line and mailed it in. Plus, he wasn't playing for a contract. If he can get back to playing with the same edge that made him successful, he should still have the skills to contribute on the scoreboard.
I am glad he is gone though. This is a deep team. We don't need players who can't contribute up and down the line-up in different ways.
But make no mistake, he has pretty significant rebound potential.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
I think a lot of us were sold that he was a "true sniper" by the media/reading into his reputation, but what he actually seems to be is more of a opportunistic/positional shooter where he uses his body to protect the puck/get in tight and then take a quick shot/tip/pound in a rebound. Even if you look back at his Vegas goals, there are very few perfectly placed brilliant shots. He's a garbage man, who for some reason we (myself included) believed was some sort of pure sniper.
He needs to play in the dirty areas, and last year he just didn't. The funny thing is Neal will score 20-30G next year - but I envision the vast majority of them being at the expense of Chiasson's spot. Garbage man on the PP.
...which then relegates Chiasson to...what exactly?
That's funny cause that's exactly the same thing for Lucic. That's exactly where Lucic needs to be, in front of the net and banging home rebounds.
That was the big problem for the Flames last year. They didn't score enough dirty and ugly goals. They were scoring beautiful goes on tic tac toe plays and that's great for most of the regular season, but come playoff time, it's all about the dirty goals.
Maybe all the pretty goals the top two lines were scoring rubbed off on Neal and he forgot that he's a garbage man.
If Lucic wants to be successful, that's what he's going to have to do. Whatever line he plays on, get to the front of the net and bang in rebounds.
Tkachuk is pretty much the only guy on the Flames roster who goes to the front of the net and pays the price to score goals. Not sure why Bennett doesn't.
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Calgary Flames, PLEASE GO TO THE NET! AND SHOOT THE PUCK! GENERATING OFFENSE IS NOT DIFFICULT! SKATE HARD, SHOOT HARD, CRASH THE NET HARD!
That's one of the reasons why I think he has good bounce back potential. Neal has never been a good skater and was successful in spite of that. When it comes to skating, age isn't as much of a factor for players like him.
His biggest problem last season seemed like motivation. He didn't get on the top line and mailed it in. Plus, he wasn't playing for a contract. If he can get back to playing with the same edge that made him successful, he should still have the skills to contribute on the scoreboard.
I am glad he is gone though. This is a deep team. We don't need players who can't contribute up and down the line-up in different ways.
But make no mistake, he has pretty significant rebound potential.
He will score 25+ meaningless goals on a meaningless team in yet another disappointing season for the worst franchise in pro sports. All while being completely hopeless at every other aspect of the game. But the press and oil fans will call it a success, for sure. Hopefully he does 'rebound'. We could use pick 63.
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. Hopefully he does 'rebound'. We could use pick 63.
Yeah I hope Neal scores 30 and Lucic gets 20.
Lucic scoring 20 goals and being a physical presence is worth more than Neal scoring 30 goals and doing nothing else.
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Calgary Flames, PLEASE GO TO THE NET! AND SHOOT THE PUCK! GENERATING OFFENSE IS NOT DIFFICULT! SKATE HARD, SHOOT HARD, CRASH THE NET HARD!
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So you are ragging on Lucic’s 50pt season in Edmonton? In the last 3 years Neal has failed to score 45pts in a single season which is a significant decline from his 58pts 4 years ago. Neal has been trending down for 3 years as well unless his climb from 41ptsmin his last year in Nashville to 45pts in Vegas is a big step forward?
I am not ragging on him. But he went from playing on a line with Cater and getting 55 points to playing with McDavid and getting 50 points. That has to be looked at with some apprehension when a player moves to a more skilled line and produces less, even if just marginally. If his skills weren't diminishing, he should have increased his production easily. Then he played himself off that line the following 2 seasons and his production plummeted to 3rd and 4th line levels. That is 3 straight seasons of diminishing contributions.
Neal has peaks and valleys in production, but nothing that suggests a trend at this point.
Like I said in other posts, I am on-board with the trade, I am just saying that the deal has much better potential for the Oilers. I bet Treliving even agrees as he made the Oilers retain salary and throw in a conditional draft pick to even it out a little more.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
That's funny cause that's exactly the same thing for Lucic. That's exactly where Lucic needs to be, in front of the net and banging home rebounds.
That was the big problem for the Flames last year. They didn't score enough dirty and ugly goals. They were scoring beautiful goes on tic tac toe plays and that's great for most of the regular season, but come playoff time, it's all about the dirty goals.
Maybe all the pretty goals the top two lines were scoring rubbed off on Neal and he forgot that he's a garbage man.
If Lucic wants to be successful, that's what he's going to have to do. Whatever line he plays on, get to the front of the net and bang in rebounds.
Tkachuk is pretty much the only guy on the Flames roster who goes to the front of the net and pays the price to score goals. Not sure why Bennett doesn't.
From a pure fan perspective, an underrated quality of this core is how many absolutely beautiful goals they score. It's poetry on ice.
Bennett's probably sick of all his goals being disallowed.
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I didn't think of Neal as a one timer sniper. But I also didn't think of him as a net front tip in guy. Somewhere in between I guess, taking good shots fairly close in.
I think Treliving still would have done. Bennett, Lucic, Tkachuk, and Kadri would have been one hell of an annoying team!
Agreed. I think Treliving makes the trade even if the Brodie deal goes through. It appears the main reason Neal was moved was because of the Neal/Peters relationship so I don't see any other trades having an effect on that.
Was always really good from the hash marks in especially when he switched to his offwing in Pittsburgh when he put up 40; his one year in Vegas he also benefited from some early on big late/OT goals which clearly energized him to a solid 25 goal campaign; I saw no fire ironically in James Neal’s game while here in Calgary and look forward to the intensity Lucic is going to bring to the club. This is going to be a good deal for Calgary; can’t shake that feeling!
With Neal, people also need to remember that the 2017/18 Knights saw just about every player in their lineup see soaring career highs. It was one of those teams where everything was just going right and the energy was incredible. Even players like Deryk Engelland were hitting at about 50% above their norm. Neal, Perron, Reilly Smith, Marchessault, etc... all scored way above their talent in 2017/18 and have all fallen back since then.
