Neal scatched

[CanadaMatt]

Wasn’t reporting back to you when Neal turned out be a failure your idea? I’m so confused right now

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

Okay. So report back to us then. Feel free to quote this page and rub it in our faces. But soooooo many other things will happen between now and 4 years from now. It’s not worth worrying about unless it’s part of your job description.
.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by CanadaMatt

Wasn’t reporting back to you when Neal turned out be a failure your idea? I’m so confused right now

Yes, but you’ve done that. You can stop with the ‘neener neener’.

I still think it was valid to wait until we saw how he performed in the playoffs. And boy, did we see. I think everyone would agree he’s now an anchor on the team, the only debate left is what to do about it.

You were right.

[activeStick]

This is the risk of taking on older veterans with a proven track record. Some players are able to maintain their production, while most see a major decrease.

The large majority of hockey fans applauded this move when it happened and it's an incredible re-write of history when these same fans come out now and blame Treliving. You win some and you lose some and it appears right now like Treliving lost this gamble.

The scoring depth problem in the playoffs is something Treliving was aware of which explains his trade with Carolina and the Neal contract but unfortunately, Neal was invisible.

[Locke]

Fix the thread title you inhuman monsters!!!

[Split98]

I still can't believe this guy had the gall to ask for more ice time

He wasn't good for even the smallest stretch of games

[Strange Brew]

5 years for Neal didn’t seem like a good idea at the time and I’m sure Treliving fully expected to be buying out at least the last year of that deal.

But hands up if you thought he’d be this useless in year 1.

[Traditional_Ale]

Can a mod please make CanadaMatt's custom user title "James Neal's biggest fan!" or something like that?

[midniteowl]

May be CanadaMatt is Neal's agent?

[Classic_Sniper]

I wonder if Nashville would ever consider a Kyle Turris for James Neal ++ swap. Turris has not been too great for Nashville either and he’s making more $ and has more term attached.

Neal had some of his best years in Nashville and maybe Poile still has some fond memories of the Real Deal. Turris probably wouldn’t be an ideal #2 center, but pushing Backlund down to #3 would make for some big time matchup problems for the opposition.


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[lazypucker]

No one will take Sh*t Deal Neal unless the Flames has to add a good prospect on the cheap (eg. Dube) for another bad contract.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

No one will take Sh*t Deal Neal unless the Flames has to add a good prospect on the cheap (eg. Dube) for another bad contract.

Lot of other bad deals out there. A lateral trade makes the most sense. Someone might take a shot at a 10 x 20+ goals. If the Flames can add a player who fills in the 3rd line hole better than Neal, then that sounds pretty good to me.


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[Karl]

James Neal has as good of a chance of bouncing back as Lucic.

The best that can likely be hoped for in my opinion is that they cut back his icetime drastically for next season, play him 4th line minutes and healthy scratch him WAY more often unless he proves he still has what it takes to be an actual NHL calibre player early in the season.

No point in trying to force him to live up to that contract since he is a sunk cost and a sunk player.

It's good to hope for him to bounce back, but I really don't see much hope for him.

[GordonBlue]

I'd be more than willing to trade you guys Lucic for Neal and eat some of lucic's salary.
even throw in a 3rd.

[Resolute 14]

Go away.

[Robbob]

I think the best solution is to try and see if he bounces back. He can't lower his value and the more term you use up the easier it will be to deal with that contract. I think he said a lot of the right things on the way out.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by Split98

I still can't believe this guy had the gall to ask for more ice time

He wasn't good for even the smallest stretch of games

Ask for more ice time, get scratched.

That's like getting laid off after asking for a raise.

Yeah, I think they just cut his ice time, until he is begging to get traded.

[TheIronMaiden]

I think that they will give him an honest chance at a bounce back year next year. After that the buyout is more palatable. Its would be six years at 1.9M cap hit. If they bought him out in 2021 it would "only" be four years of the same cap hit.

Both Scenarios would offer a short term "savings" of 3.8M

So I guess the silver linings is at the very least it is a buyoutable contract if next year proves to be the same.

[lazypucker]

Give him 10 games at the start of next season. If he can't get at least say 3 goals and 5 points in that 10-game stretch, waive him and bury him in the minors

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

I'd be more than willing to trade you guys Lucic for Neal and eat some of lucic's salary.
even throw in a 3rd.

Swap 1sts and Lucic waives his NMC moving forward then I would do it.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

I think that they will give him an honest chance at a bounce back year next year. After that the buyout is more palatable. Its would be six years at 1.9M cap hit. If they bought him out in 2021 it would "only" be four years of the same cap hit.

Both Scenarios would offer a short term "savings" of 3.8M

So I guess the silver linings is at the very least it is a buyoutable contract if next year proves to be the same.

This is how I see it. The cap hit, as a percentage, is more palatable later as well. I suppose a new CBA might also have some compliance buyouts to use.