James Neal scratched for tonight.

Would a Jack Johnson and something else for James Neal make sense?

I feel like we need to get rid of one of Hörnqvist or Jacko.
- Barnaby36

Healthy scratch?

Maybe if they sent JJ and some for NeL then Geno wouldn’t want to leave!!!

James Neal scratched for tonight.

Would a Jack Johnson and something else for James Neal make sense?

I feel like we need to get rid of one of Hörnqvist or Jacko.
- Barnaby36

I would do that. If AZ strikes out in free agency then I bet they would entertain taking on Neal. This is his first season where he hasn’t scored 20 goals and his shooting % was way below his average. I would bet on him bouncing back. Is he a fit in Pitt? Only if he’s going to pot 25+ playing with Geno. It’s a possibility. If we can get rid of JJ at the same time then I think it’s a no brainer

Neal's contract is actually worse than JJ's.

Does Hornquest have a Full NMC?

Neal's contract is actually worse than JJ's.
- Rinosaur

Oh boy. Well, let’s hear it. Do tell how JJ’s contract is somehow better than a guy who didn’t fit in during one season where he shot way below his career shooting % but drove possession and scored goals everywhere else

No.
- Rinosaur

You put a lot of thought in your answer lol thanks anyway

Oh boy. Well, let’s hear it. Do tell how JJ’s contract is somehow better than a guy who didn’t fit in during one season where he shot way below his career shooting % but drove possession and scored goals everywhere else
- WSCTeton17

Neal is a one-dimensional player player who NEARLY always disappears for one half of the season (don't bring up the one year he scored 40 goals), is on the decline and is signed for four more years at $5.75M!!!

Are you kidding me? Everyone is regretting the Hornqvist contract and he's a better player than Neal.

I would do that. If AZ strikes out in free agency then I bet they would entertain taking on Neal. This is his first season where he hasn’t scored 20 goals and his shooting % was way below his average. I would bet on him bouncing back. Is he a fit in Pitt? Only if he’s going to pot 25+ playing with Geno. It’s a possibility. If we can get rid of JJ at the same time then I think it’s a no brainer
- WSCTeton17

I feel like getting rid of a bad contract takes another bad contract coming back. At least we know Neal has good chemistry with Geno. I’d probably do a Neal and something for Jacko and Gudbranson’s contract.

Does Hornquest have a Full NMC?
- sammy87

Yes, for two more years, then it goes to a partial no trade.

Yes, for two more years, then it goes to a partial no trade.
- Thunderbolt

We gave him a NTC? (frank). I thought we didn’t.

I’m sold on sending Jacko and Guds for Nealer and a Prospect or pick.

Neal is a one-dimensional player player who NEARLY always disappears for one half of the season (don't bring up the one year he scored 40 goals), is on the decline and is signed for four more years at $5.75M!!!

Are you kidding me? Everyone is regretting the Hornqvist contract and he's a better player than Neal.
- Rinosaur

So you’re telling me you’d rather have a player who is bad all season long over a guy who’s good for half the season and then still driving play when he’s not scoring? You’re going to have to justify it a bit more if you’re playing armchair GM.

I’ve discussed Neal on hockeybuzz in the past and I LOVE when people bring up his one 40 goal season because... if you take away his first 20 games in Pitt when we were hurt and use his 3 full seasons here he scored on a 40 goal pace on average. So you see, it wasn’t just one season. He went on to score 29 goals per 82 games with Vegas and Nashville with lesser centers than Malkin. If you wanted a better argument you could’ve said that he’s a suspension liability, that he gets hurt, or that you think his 5% shooting average is the new norm. That’s fine, sometimes you can’t change someone’s mind. But I listen to facts.

Malkin needs more help, this is a fact. He had chemistry with Neal in the past.
Neal is a proven goal scorer who didn’t work out in Calgary, there’s no other evidence to think he wouldn’t score elsewhere. We also already know that JJ is bad. We absolutely regret the Hornqvist contract. Most of us felt it was a bit too much for a bit too long. His style of play doesn’t age well, that’s not new news. James Neal is a possession player. That’s Malkin’s game. Hornqvist is a dump and chase player and he’s not effective at the chasing part. Im no 72 fan but I’m fine with him playing with Geno. I’m also fine with Neal playing with Geno especially if it makes our D look like this next year
Dumo-Letang
Petts-Schultz
Ruhwedel-Gudbranson

I’m sold on sending Jacko and Guds for Nealer and a Prospect or pick.
- Barnaby36

Gudbranson was good for us for a time and JJ was not. Obviously Neal doesn’t really have much trade value but he’s a career 11.6% shooter who has had a total of one bad season at 5%. There are plenty of teams that would be willing to take him on for less than JJ. For example, if Calgary thinks he’s useless then they would take someone they would use for him. This could include a guy like Lucic, possibly Kovalchuk, Russel, and then there’s teams who think he can bounce back that can’t sign free agents like AZ. If Columbus loses all their free agents AND somehow miss out in free agency but your buns they’ll need some new goal scoring. Minnesota needs a change: they might take Neal with salary retained, same goes for MTL to a lesser extent. The Rangers could be interested if they got something else to sweeten the pot

Neal is the type of player Tocchet likes. He’s also analytic friendly so Chayka could like him. If Calgary is just looking to dump him off and are willing to accept Archibald in his place..
Hinostroza-Schmaltz-Galchenyuk
Neal-Dvorak-Keller
Grabner-Stepan-Garland
Crouse-Richardson-Cousins/Fischer
Demers-OEL
Hjalmarsson-Goligoski
Chychrun-Oesterle
Raanta
Kuemper
A defensive team with some offensive flare. I believe that’s what Tocchet and Chayka are looking for. Personally I’d rather have Zucc but I don’t think Neal is the worst option

So you’re telling me you’d rather have a player who is bad all season long over a guy who’s good for half the season and then still driving play when he’s not scoring? You’re going to have to justify it a bit more if you’re playing armchair GM.

I’ve discussed Neal on hockeybuzz in the past and I LOVE when people bring up his one 40 goal season because... if you take away his first 20 games in Pitt when we were hurt and use his 3 full seasons here he scored on a 40 goal pace on average. So you see, it wasn’t just one season. He went on to score 29 goals per 82 games with Vegas and Nashville with lesser centers than Malkin. If you wanted a better argument you could’ve said that he’s a suspension liability, that he gets hurt, or that you think his 5% shooting average is the new norm. That’s fine, sometimes you can’t change someone’s mind. But I listen to facts.

Malkin needs more help, this is a fact. He had chemistry with Neal in the past.
Neal is a proven goal scorer who didn’t work out in Calgary, there’s no other evidence to think he wouldn’t score elsewhere. We also already know that JJ is bad. We absolutely regret the Hornqvist contract. Most of us felt it was a bit too much for a bit too long. His style of play doesn’t age well, that’s not new news. James Neal is a possession player. That’s Malkin’s game. Hornqvist is a dump and chase player and he’s not effective at the chasing part. Im no 72 fan but I’m fine with him playing with Geno. I’m also fine with Neal playing with Geno especially if it makes our D look like this next year
Dumo-Letang
Petts-Schultz
Ruhwedel-Gudbranson
- WSCTeton17

If we could close the gab on the Neal hit compared to JJ... i'd be all in for this. But adding another 2.5 mil in what could be a bum winger... has me a smidge hesitant.


Eh who am I kidding, (frank) Jack Johnson... Neal > Lucic

Neal and Geno were good together like 4-5 years ago......Move on.

Neal is pretty slow too so that doesn't solve that problem either.

Holy Crap he has like 5 more years on his contract and he's 31.....Id take Sprong over Neal.

Neal and Geno were good together like 4-5 years ago......Move on.

Neal is pretty slow too so that doesn't solve that problem either.
- sammy87

Slow winger vs slow #3 TOI Dman... just gotta find a way to deal with the increased cap hit

Slow winger vs slow #3 TOI Dman... just gotta find a way to deal with the increased cap hit
- Guile

If it were me id do the buy out option. Then again JR thinks he's got his best D core of his tenure so neither will happen.

If it were me id do the buy out option. Then again JR thinks he's got his best D core of his tenure so neither will happen.
- sammy87

I'd look into what trades and options exist before looking at a buy out of course... can possibly find a GM being really stupid for a day.

Like... JJ's positives.. ummm... healthy, won't miss games. Hits... blocks shots... grit and leadership... possibly sucked off Crosby.

There was a site proposing Neal and Stone for JJ and Hornqvist. Even though a line with Neal, Malkin and Kessel would seem awesome on paper. I think we need to get younger and faster and Neal seemed to regress. I think that is the only logic on why I could see some moves being made this offseason.

There was a site proposing Neal and Stone for JJ and Hornqvist. Even though a line with Neal, Malkin and Kessel would seem awesome on paper. I think we need to get younger and faster and Neal seemed to regress. I think that is the only logic on why I could see some moves being made this offseason.
- 123Kid

The hard part about getting young and fast is that those players also need to be good. How many guys do we have in our system that will make an impact over the next 4 seasons? How many young players are available in free agency? There’s the problem. You need to trade or draft to get younger. If we draft then that’s not helping us now. If we trade, well, where are all of these GMs giving up on their young promising players and not getting a good return? We got McCann because we were willing to take on Bjugstad who can continue to play well or he could fizzle out. The same argument can be made for anyone. The odds of Neal returning to 29 goal form playing with Malkin I would say are much higher than him remaining a 10-15 goal player. I’m not guaranteeing Neal will thrive here. But Calgary might be willing to retain some salary.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Young, talented players aren’t cheap and this crop of free agents is going to get paid. My priorities are to improve our D and getting a winger for Malkin

So you’re telling me you’d rather have a player who is bad all season long over a guy who’s good for half the season and then still driving play when he’s not scoring? You’re going to have to justify it a bit more if you’re playing armchair GM.

I’ve discussed Neal on hockeybuzz in the past and I LOVE when people bring up his one 40 goal season because... if you take away his first 20 games in Pitt when we were hurt and use his 3 full seasons here he scored on a 40 goal pace on average. So you see, it wasn’t just one season. He went on to score 29 goals per 82 games with Vegas and Nashville with lesser centers than Malkin. If you wanted a better argument you could’ve said that he’s a suspension liability, that he gets hurt, or that you think his 5% shooting average is the new norm. That’s fine, sometimes you can’t change someone’s mind. But I listen to facts.

Malkin needs more help, this is a fact. He had chemistry with Neal in the past.
Neal is a proven goal scorer who didn’t work out in Calgary, there’s no other evidence to think he wouldn’t score elsewhere. We also already know that JJ is bad. We absolutely regret the Hornqvist contract. Most of us felt it was a bit too much for a bit too long. His style of play doesn’t age well, that’s not new news. James Neal is a possession player. That’s Malkin’s game. Hornqvist is a dump and chase player and he’s not effective at the chasing part. Im no 72 fan but I’m fine with him playing with Geno. I’m also fine with Neal playing with Geno especially if it makes our D look like this next year
Dumo-Letang
Petts-Schultz
Ruhwedel-Gudbranson
- WSCTeton17

I'm sincerely not trying to be a Richard, but I think you're so far away from reality on this that it's probably not worth the conversation. We're way too far apart on this lol

We gave him a NTC? (frank). I thought we didn’t.
- Victoro311

Just checked capfriendly and yup, he has a modified NTC. Eight team no-trade list.

Forgive the pun but I would give up a King’s ransom for Doughty if he were available. Not Malkin as some people have rumored. But if the King’s are looking to get younger I think we would all be willing to give them Maatta, Rust, ZAR, a 1st and a 2nd. Let him and Letang each play 24 minutes a night on separate pairings. Doughty can play with Schultz. Bottom pairing can stay the same for now. They would probably want more. Obviously Guentzel is off the list and they won’t want older players

I'm sincerely not trying to be a Richard, but I think you're so far away from reality on this that it's probably not worth the conversation. We're way too far apart on this lol
- Rinosaur

You can be a Richard all you want, I’m not going to go cry because we have different opinions. What I do take offense to is when I present facts, things that are true and can’t be denied and am told that it’s somehow not realistic. Lots of high end players take dips in production and recover. Some don’t. James Neal has never been fast yet he’s always been productive. This is his only season and it happened when he changed teams. They had a spot for him to fill and it didn’t work out. Outside of this season where he couldn’t fill that spot, what other evidence exists that he won’t succeed within a different franchises top 6?

Next you’re going to tell me that Maatta is fast...?

There was a site proposing Neal and Stone for JJ and Hornqvist. Even though a line with Neal, Malkin and Kessel would seem awesome on paper. I think we need to get younger and faster and Neal seemed to regress. I think that is the only logic on why I could see some moves being made this offseason.
- 123Kid

The big issue with moving JJ is the options. I think it's possible, but none of the realities are fun:

1) The Pens have to attach a first and probably still add more incentive to NOT take on another bad contract in return.

2) The Pens have to swap out for another bad contract

3) The Pens have to retain salary and still add more incentive that may be far too hard to give.

4) Buyout, which is probably the least likely to happen.

Neal is nothing more than another "change of scenery" situation and if the Pens want to have a shot in this small window, it's time for making trades for proven commodities.

The Pens have limited cap space, so to shrink that space on something we don't know helps this team? No thank you.