The Edmonton Oilers Trade Milan Lucic to the Calgary Flames for James Neal

The Edmonton Oilers announced today that they had traded forward Milan Lucic and a condition 2020 third round draft pick to the Calgary Flames in exchange for forward James Neal. The Oilers retain 12.5% ($750,000 AAV) of Lucic’s remaining contract. The condition on the pick is as follows: Neal must score at least 21 goals and Lucic has to score at least ten goals fewer than Neal.

Lucic played in 79 games for Edmonton last season, in which he produced six goals and 14 assists. Drafted in the second round (50th overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins, he has appeared in 890 career NHL games, in which he has recorded 198 goals and 303 assists. The 31-year-old left wing will be playing for his fourth team over his 12 season NHL career. He has four seasons left on his seven year, $42 million contract ($6 million AAV, but at a $5.25 million cap hit to Calgary due to the salary retained by Edmonton).

    Neal played in 63 games for Calgart last season, in which he produced seven goals and 12 assists. He then played in four playoff games for the team, but failed to record a single point in any of them. Drafted in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Dallas Stars, Neal has played in 766 career NHL games, over which he has produced 270 goals and 244 assists. The 31-year-old left wing will be playing for his sixth team over his 11-season NHL career, and his fourth in as many seasons. He has four seasons left on his five year, $28.75 million contract ($5.75 million AAV). 

    Lydia’s Reaction: I burst out laughing when I saw this trade, what was Calgary thinking! The Oilers won their first trade in years, and by a lot! I can’t be nice and professional on this one. This is such a bad trade for Calgary. They traded an overpaid forward coming off a bad year for an even worse and far more overpaid forward. At least Neal has the potential to rebound at least a little bit, wheras Lucic will only decline from here. His physical play has taken a toll on his body, and it shows at he is one of the (if not the) slowest players in the game today. His contract is also one of the (if not the) worst in the NHL, as under no circumstances should any team have paid him that much for that long, and the longer it goes on the worse it will get. Neal is also significantly overpaid, but at least he is just coming off of one bad year after producing at least 40 points in six of his past eight seasons. Yes, he is declining and not worth his contract in any way, but at least he still has the potential to contribute, especially if he gets some time alongside Connor McDavid and/or Leon Draisaitl next season. Lucic, however, failed to produce more than 35 points in each of the past two seasons and can’t seem to contribute anywhere, even when he was given time alongside McDavid and/or Draisaitl. The Flames were a boredline contending team with cap problems, and their solution was to trade their worst contract for an even worse one and only freeing up $500,000 in cap space, while also picking up a lesser player. Not a smart move at all, and it is now one of the many reasons we can expect regression from the Flames next season. They still need to find a way to clear space for their RFAs, most notably Matthew Tkachuk. They’ll have a hard time with that now.

    This post will be updated later with Stephen’s reaction.