[Signing] Flames sign James Neal (5 years, 5.75 AAV)

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Yoho

Which is an entirely plausible scenario starting next year.

You're right, it could be.


But it's not going to happen this season, I don't think.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Neal is a sunk cost. No one is content with him but some realize there isn't a whole lot that can be done. Whining daily isn't exactly a solution. Is anyone going to take him in trade? Seems highly unlikely. So basically the only option you have is to hope he gets going. I think you confuse being content with not needing to beat a dead horse. EVERYONE knows Neal is playing like crap. Somehow you think whining about it daily on the internet is magically going to create a solution? Realistically there doesn't seem to be many options. It is what it is at this point so it seems more logical to enjoy all the success the team is having and spend less time focusing on really the only thing going wrong.

I agree, the contract is what it is, the production clearly doesn't match the dough and it's highly likely it won't match no matter what else he does for the rest of the season.

The gripe for me isn't about the value of the contract right now. That Treliving will have to deal with in the offseason as the cap will be tight. But for me, the biggest thing was the usage. I dislike virtually every aspect about his game and I knew it would be better served going to other guys like Frolik or a Bennett or a Jankowski and etc.

That to me is the bigger issue because it affects the team. Useful players like Frolik are getting scratched, benched and underutilized because the team is still trying to get Neal going over 50% into the season. At some point, trying to get him going is a lost cause. His constant floating around, his lack of engagement to 1 on 1 battles, his lethargy to the defensive side of the puck, the turnovers, the footspeed, the value of his production per minute. None of these things will help the team win in the playoffs, so it's hard to ignore.

If Neal's minutes are pushed down and he's slotted closer to where he should be in the line up. Then that's really all that I can ask for right now. With the 3M line hopefully reunited for good, this gives this team 2 quality lines going forward which will help big time.and if Jankowski can continue his upward trend helping to push Bennett and Neal's game along, I can see traffic for this thread slowing down.

[Flamenspiel]

I have been watching Neal for awhile when he is on the ice. He is not as bad as presented in this thread and he will succeed in conjunction with the other middle players like Bennett, Jankowski, and Frolik. If you look at Bingo's stats on the 4 lines his performance is consistent with how the third line performs in general. If Jankowski continues to break out, Neal will also break out. Sure he is overpaid, but he is a solid third liner at worst.

Other then some statistical comparisons, i don't see any comparison to Brouwer, who you could see lost the puck consistently and did not "advance" play at all. Brouwer was a borderline 4th line player(between 4th line and sitting out).

[calumniate]

Agreed. Playing 3rd line with Bennett and Jankowski isn't the worst thing to ever happen. I could see them becoming a productive unit offensively

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CanadaMatt

Buying him out doesn’t shed all of his cap hit. Do you not know this? Plus Murray is unlikely to buy out another expensive RW so soon after Brouwer...so a buy out is not an option.

You do realize we need to sign Chucky and a goalie next season right? Wouldn’t you like to add a terasenko/stone ‘type’ player to exploit this window while we have it?...we would need rid of Neal’s cap hit to do this

What do you think we’d need to offer say ‘carolina’ to take him off our hands?

We also need draft picks and young players to manage the cap. Do YOU not know this?

Good teams that stay good do so because they have a steady flow of young players taking over for older players that demand more money. Losing Kylington and a 2nd is not worth 1.5 million in cap savings (compared to a buyout).

Last I checked, we were in dire need of a Tarasenko/Stone type player. Do you follow the team? Checked the record lately? We’re doing pretty well for ourselves.

[CanadaMatt]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

We also need draft picks and young players to manage the cap. Do YOU not know this?

Good teams that stay good do so because they have a steady flow of young players taking over for older players that demand more money. Losing Kylington and a 2nd is not worth 1.5 million in cap savings (compared to a buyout).

Last I checked, we were in dire need of a Tarasenko/Stone type player. Do you follow the team? Checked the record lately? We’re doing pretty well for ourselves.

I love you arrogantly assuming the Flames ownership can just waste another ~23 million on a buyout. No big deal right, money grows on trees!

[CalgaryFan1988]

I've never liked Neal, but if he can start to chip in a little offensively, I think I could grow to like him. I really like his board-play of late.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by CanadaMatt

Buying him out doesn’t shed all of his cap hit. Do you not know this? Plus Murray is unlikely to buy out another expensive RW so soon after Brouwer...so a buy out is not an option.

You do realize we need to sign Chucky and a goalie next season right? Wouldn’t you like to add a terasenko/stone ‘type’ player to exploit this window while we have it?...we would need rid of Neal’s cap hit to do this

What do you think we’d need to offer say ‘carolina’ to take him off our hands?

CanadaMatt, I can't see a team taking on Neal's cap hit straight up nor do I think we have a deep enough prospect pool/picks to throw away, so a lateral trade might make more sense.

I actually think a good trade partner might actually be the Montreal Canadiens. To me Karl Alzner's contract could be looked at as almost equally worse. He hasn't been a good fit there and they are a team 15th place team in goals per game. They're probably very interested in adding goals and I think their team has enough playmakers to resurrect his game.

As for Flames, the pros for adding Alzner is 3 fold. He's a left handed shot veteran defenseman, which is something the GM is allegedly looking for. The term on his contract is one year less, which would mean a more palatable buy out if in the worst case, we needed to. Also he makes just over 1 million less as well which would help this team's cap crunch considerably in the offseason. He's also from Calgary, so bringing in a hometown boy might re-energize his game.

If it all works out, the Flames would have a reliable, experienced, stay at home #6 defenseman paired with Rasmus Andersson who could then start joining the rush more, adding more offense from the 3rd pair. Neal could maybe some chemistry with some of the speedy forwards and it would be a win-win for both sides.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Neal must be doing something right in the locker room, because wherever he has gone the team has made the playoffs (since 2011). Only 3x in his career has he not made the playoffs and those were his first 3 seasons. Once he got on the Penguins was when he started to make it consistently.

I don't really have a problem with him right now. I probably won't until we absolutely need cap space for the ELC signings like Andersson, Valimaki, Dube, etc when the time comes.

I really want to see how he fares in the games after 82. Even Brouwer, whom we all weren't a fan of, cranked his level of play up a notch where it mattered most, (which was so frustrating).