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For weeks, if not months, there's been talk about the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and/or Vancouver Canucks coming together to swap big free agent contracts they've come to regret signing.
Where there's smoke there's fire, as the Flames and the Oilers have all but officially agreed to deal one big problem for another.
James Neal ($5.75 million cap hit) will be heading Edmonton in exchange for Milan Lucic ($6 million cap hit). Both players are 31, and both players have four years remaining on their contracts.
Lucic costs a little more money and he is essentially buyout proof. If there are no sweeteners coming from the Oilers, this deal suggests GM Brad Treliving feels the Flames can get more out of Lucic moving forward than Neal. There *may* be something to that.
Lucic (.93 points/60) and Neal (.99 points/60) were inefficient black holes offensively in 2018-19. The difference is Lucic provided some defensive value. Neal, well, didn't.
The Flames are getting the better defender, and they're getting the player with more bite – something they feel they're lacking.
On the flip side, Neal was a noticeably better chance generator last season (7.88 per 60 for Neal; 6.10 per 60 for Lucic) and is only a year removed of a quality offensive season. Lucic hasn't enjoyed one since 2016-17.
If one of the two were to bounce back offensively, Neal is the better bet – especially given he'll likely see plenty of time on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' wing.
I'll have more on this trade in the coming days when a) full details are available and; b) I've had time to dig deeper and digest the deal.
For now, it seems like an understandable gamble for each side with the bigger potential reward in Edmonton's hands.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com and capfriendly.com
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On the Nazem Kadri trade that never was
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