Ongoing thread for Neal/Lucic discussion

[d_phaneuf]

Bet he scores 20 next year

[zamler]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

CanadaMatt, for the last time, nobody effing cares.

I care, wanna see a brawl.

[JT45]

Gotta admit, i hated the trade at first. I bought on to all the neal excuses and was hoping for a resurgence this year. I mean he cant possibly be worse than last year.

Dont know if im easily manupulated but after seeing the underlying advanced stats, video, and comments....kinda excited now.

Let me say this - neal was literally our worst player last year, from my eyes anyway. Cant blame a guy for being ##### if effort is there. But no effort makes me not like you, simple as that.

I would rather pay 5.25 mill for an effective facepuncher and goon who plays a role on our team than 5.75 for someone who does absolutely nothing to help.

A curious thing to me was why lucic needed so much advice and talk to get the hell out of edmonton...i mean, isnt anything else better. Did you need that much convincing..dont get it.

[TheOnlyBilko]

Originally Posted by fireguyfire

Does anyone know when Treliving might be interviewed on the fan?
I can’t seem to wrap my head around this one and I’d be very interested to hear his reasoning live.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What's there to wrap ur head around? Neal was a floater and slow as molases. A huge BUST!!! We dumped him for a player with tons of heart and can throw around the body and will protect our stars. Lucic had twice the body checks as our top guy last year. Lucic seems very happy to be here. Hes already changed his profile pic to a Flames jersey. It was a GOOD DEAL.

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by CanadaMatt

Did you want me to post all the ‘made up arguments’ that Neal defenders have been ‘making up’ all year?...or would you prefer I let it go?

Your call Bingo, if I don’t hear from you, I’ll assume you’ll want me to post the ‘made-up nonsense’

Christ, you’re insufferable.

[stang]

Just testing my new profile pic. Hmm didnt work


Edit: Got it.

[Rando]

Originally Posted by stang

Just testing my new profile pic. Hmm didnt work


Edit: Got it.

[Gaskal]

He dummied Tom Wilson? I'm sold.

[TheOnlyBilko]

Originally Posted by Mayo

..I mean his best season points wise was when he was on a line with Iggy and at that point Iggy wasn't fast either

Huh? Do you just make this stuff up? Lol he had better seasons point wise and goal wise before he played with Iggy and I don't even have to look at stats or do research to know this.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by TheOnlyBilko

Huh? Do you just make this stuff up? Lol he had better seasons point wise and goal wise before he played with Iggy and I don't even have to look at stats or do research to know this.

59 points in the season with Iggy, hasn’t hit that total since.

Had 2 seasons better, 61 and 62 points. Dial back the salt.

[VilleN]

I’m pretty surprised at the big reaction to what amounts to a marginal trade. Does this trade appear to move the needle in either direction? Not that I can see. Why does everyone care so much about this? We basically added 500k(edit) of cap space... that’s really the net out from this trade IMO.

[red sky]

Originally Posted by VilleN

I’m pretty surprised at the big reaction to what amounts to a marginal trade. Does this trade appear to move the needle in either direction? Not that I can see. Why does everyone care so much about this? We basically added 300k of cap space... that’s really the net out from this trade IMO.

500k

[Calgary4LIfe]

After a day of digesting this, I like this even more. When rumours first began circulating of this deal, I was all for it.


Can any single person make the argument that Neal was a net positive at all on this team? I can certainly make the point that he was consistently a net negative in how he dragged every line down. To cap it off, he ends up arguing with Peters about his lack of ice time? FFS, he kept getting the most undeserved opportunities over and over and over again on this team. After every penalty kill, he gets thrown out with Monahan and Gaudreau - every single damn game. He continually got WAY too much PP time. He was disinterested in playing defence on top of that, and outside of a handful of games, didn't even bring any physicality. He was an absolute negative on this team. Now to see that he and Peters might be butting heads if he didn't get the same opportunities as he got last season? Good riddance. I never say that about players leaving the organization - you can look up and down my posting history here if you are that interested. I really mean good riddance. He wouldn't accept the fact that he simply became a very poor player by every metric, but really felt he was a better player than others on the team and deserved 1st line minutes and PP time? Really?


Pens didn't want Neal even though he really produced there. Nashville found him expendable and not worth protecting. Vegas utilized him on the third line and didn't seem like they were all that interested in re-signing him. In Calgary, he was absolutely the worst forward on the ice game in, game out. I sure as hell bet that a Bennett - Jankowski - Dube line (simply swapping out what I consider to be the worst forward for the next call-up) being a vastly more effective line. Any arguments there? I have never in my life seen a former 40 goal scorer have so much trouble shooting the damn puck. It wasn't only that he couldn't get to dangerous areas, but once he did, the puck took forever coming off his stick and most of the time it was neither hard nor accurate. That's why I argue that his SH% - his career worst - seems appropriate for him. Does it take a year to get used to a new stick? Maybe he had screwed up wrists or other hand-related injuries - that's the only way I could ever see him 'bouncing back' with his terrible shot.



As for Lucic - welcome to Calgary. Lucic actually gives a damn about playing defence. Think about this - Lucic did not get those prime minutes that Neal got. He started more often in the defensive zone, whereas Peters HAD to utilize Neal in offensive zone starts. He hit 3x more than Neal. To top it off, he out-produced Neal?


Hey, don't get me wrong, that contract sucks for what he brings, but this is an absolute win for Calgary. I bet that Lucic even skates faster than Neal. Flames were the biggest pushovers last season and didn't have an answer for any team that really showed toughness, especially when the PP was misfiring at times throughout the season. Now the Flames can send a response, and Lucic loves to hit and get into players' faces. It would not surprise me to see an uptick in his production as well - maybe he was a bad fit in Edmonton. Heck, I wouldn't even mind seeing him on PP2 as the net-front presence. Flames are sorely lacking that, and Neal was AWFUL at it.


I am almost positive that after the first two months of the season, there will be nobody who really hates Lucic. I doubt that there will be anyone that loves that contract, but there will be nobody that thinks that Lucic is hurting this team in any other way. I was surprised at how composed he was while in Edmonton and didn't do much that was stupid. You are always going to have a poor penalty differential when you are a physical guy out there playing his role, so I am not concerned about that - it comes with the job. He just won't do stupid stuff any longer (if his time in Edmonton is enough of a sample size) to hurt the team.



I have NEVER been a fan of Lucic, not even in his heyday in Boston. I am not some Lucic fan boy who loves the fact that the team I cheer for acquired one of my favorite players - I actually quite hated Lucic, even though I really love many of the tougher guys around the league, and even loved some of the pure enforcers of the past.


Lucic just isn't as bad as Neal at the game of hockey - at both ends of the rink and especially along the boards. He can also add value in being a more disruptive player against opposing teams, especially in front of the net.



Would I rather the Flames have neither Neal nor Lucic? Of course. With that being said, the Flames improved their cap situation, helped fill a few glaring holes on the team (toughness, net-front presence, board play), and most of all acquired a good TEAMMATE that can accept the role he is given and won't become a distraction. It's an absolute win.

[CanadaMatt]

Originally Posted by VilleN

I’m pretty surprised at the big reaction to what amounts to a marginal trade. Does this trade appear to move the needle in either direction? Not that I can see. Why does everyone care so much about this? We basically added 300k of cap space... that’s really the net out from this trade IMO.

My guess is that folks who had hoped Neal could rebound are disappointed that BT essentially gave up on him. I imagine these posters are concerned that BT sold Neal at the lowest possible point (in terms of value).

There have been a number of Neal-for-Lucic trade suggestions over the course of the 2018/2019 season...none of these suggestions were met with a particularly positive response, even when a 1st round pick was thrown in.

[bigrangy]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

That’s the beauty of treating hockey as nothing but fun though.

Lucid last week? “Garbage! lol stupid Oilers.”
Neal last week? “Primed for a bounce back, he was just really tired, you’ll see!”

This week?
“Neal was locker room cancer and Lucic will strike fear in the hearts of many. lol stupid Oilers.”

If there’s one thing I can get behind, it’s enjoying every single minute of hyping the Flames and trashing the Oilers, both for any reason available.

We have always been at war with Eastasia Edmonton

[mrdonkey]

My prediction for Lucic: $5 million Hathaway.

[Francis's Hairpiece]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

My prediction for Lucic: $5 million Hathaway.

Couldn't let one page go without taking a dump on it, huh? Well, you got it. Good for you.

[TheScorpion]

I like how Lucic has a defined role here, at the very least. He's not going to stop guys like Mangiapane, Dube, Pospisil, Phillips etc from moving up the lineup.

I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of signing Pat Maroon all of a sudden.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I like how Lucic has a defined role here, at the very least. He's not going to stop guys like Mangiapane, Dube, Pospisil, Phillips etc from moving up the lineup.

I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of signing Pat Maroon all of a sudden.

Would much rather an upgrade on Frolik. Not another panzer (tank).

Not sold that Dube or anyone on the farm can step into a top six winger role either.

[btimbit]

Imagine being that upset over trading a crappy overpaid winger for a crappy overpaid winger.

Treliving on the hot seat? Worst trade in history? Holy crap! I totally understand not liking Lucic, I don't either, but the levels some people have taken this is insane, and frankly more entertaining than the trade itself.

It doesn't make the team better or worse on the ice