Monday Mailbag – Who won the Lucic for Neal trade?

Hello, hello! Welcome, my friends, to another edition of the mailbag where I’ve taken your questions and turned them into a little bit of free learnin’ on a Monday morning. This week, we look at the question that everyone seems to be asking about: who won the @Milan Lucic for @James Neal trade? If you want in on next week’s mailbag, just fire me an email at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Until then, I encourage you to sit back, relax, and waste a few minutes of company time. Have a good week, everybody.

The Oilers needed another top-six scorer. Neal has a much better track record of scoring goals than Lucic. He fills a big hole in Edmonton that I don’t think Lucic was capable of filling.

The clear winner in terms of the contracts is Edmonton. Not close. How it unfolds on the ice, we have to see. In those terms, I can see the swap helping both teams.

My first thoughts were “NO F***ING WAY!” and my second thoughts were “Ken Holland robbed them!”. Oilers are clear winners. It’s as simple as that.

The Oilers actually win a trade. I was shocked and assumed the pick was at least a second. I thought they had to have retained a million, but both draft pick and salary retained are negligible.

I still can’t believe it happened tbh. A clear win for the Oilers.

I’ve never seen anything like that. I think Neal will score 21 goals, probably a few more. If Neal scores 26 goals I think Calgary will get the pick for sure. I could see Lucic scoring 11-15 goals in Calgary.

I think Calgary will get the pick because I see Neal getting 21-plus and I don’t see Milan hitting double digits.

I think they will get the pick, but it will be close. My personal over/under for James Neal is 20.5 goals and my number for Lucic is 9.5 goals. If Neal gets time on the top powerplay unit and clicks with Connor McDavid, I think he’ll crush the 20 goal mark. If he’s on the second line with Nugent-Hopkins and isn’t on the top PP unit, then it will be close. I have faith in a bounceback for Neal though, which is why I’m saying the Flames will get the pick.

I’m not sure I have either. I think Calgary just missed out on the pick. Lucic gets something like 6 goals and Neal gets 15.

It definitely is a weird conditional pick, but I also think that if the Oilers have to pay up then they won’t really care because it’ll mean Neal is filling the net.

They rotated it through a few players last year. Maybe they add no one and just keep it on RNH and Larsson. If they want to add in another player, I’d guess it would be Draisaitl. But I don’t think they have to. I’m not a huge fan of multiple Associate Captains.

I’d be fine with Draisaitl or Nurse.

I remember listening to Ken Hitchcock on The Bob McCown Show when Ken Holland was hired and he mentioned how players like Darnell Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Leon Draisaitl are hungry to become bigger leaders and he felt like he saw that last season in his time behind the bench. One of Nurse or Draisaitl will get it and I don’t have a preference or an opinion beyond that simply because I’m not in the room.

I don’t know how much this stuff really matters, but I won’t be surprised if it’s Darnell Nurse.

Easy. Leon will get it.

He is still looking for a possible 3C…And of course the status of Jesse Puljujarvi. He is in no rush to trade him. If a good deal is there he will make the deal, and teams have expressed interest. We see more trades in September than we do in August usually, so I think the Puljujarvi trade talk among other teams might pick back up in September.

No, he’s not finished. Can still use a third-line centre and a winger.

I think he’ll look at adding a cheap 3C option, maybe even on a PTO, but that will be about it. He’s tight for cap space and I don’t think he wants to trade Kris Russell or Sam Gagner so there really isn’t an option for him to make more space either. A cheap third-line centre and maybe he makes a move with Jesse Puljujarvi, but that’s it.

I don’t think there’s much more. Maybe a Jesse Puljujarvi trade for a draft pick or middle-six forward, it feels like that would have been completed by now if it was possible. The activity period for roster movement is basically over so this seems like the roster barring a few PTOs.

I think there will be some PTOs closer to camp and I also think that Jesse Puljujarvi will be back with the Oilers. Now watch him get traded before this gets posted on Monday morning.

Derick Brassard on a one-year deal worth $2 million.

Trade, but no rush on that right now. No UFA’s remaining that are worth an overpay.

Well, if you go out and sign a 3C, you can probably waive Kyle Brodziak and create an extra $1 million in space. But still, you need to be mindful of a bonus for Mike Smith and maybe even ELC bonuses for someone like Evan Bouchard or Tyler Benson. With all of that considered, I think Ken Holland will stay quiet for the rest of the summer and bring in a player or two on a PTO before camp.

I’d try and move Kris Russell and use that money on another forward, winger or centre.

PTO everyone.

 

 

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