Old Faces in New Places: NHL Free Agency Roundup Pt. 3

In the two previous installments, I talked about John Tavares and Ryan O'Reilly, two centers who control the game with the puck on their stick both by scoring goals, and setting them up. This time I'm gonna look at a completely different player, the "Real Deal" James Neal.

Previous Season (With Golden Knights): 71 Games Played, 25 Goals, 19 Assists, 44 Points

Neal will be joining his fifth NHL team this coming season when he joins the Calgary Flames. Neal is coming off back to back Stanley Cup Finals runs, last year with the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, and the season before with the Nashville Predators. To this point in his career, Neal has enjoyed plenty of success doing what he does best, putting the puck in the back of the net. Neal is a sniper, meaning his job, whenever he's on the ice is simple, score goals. Neal has done this consistently, scoring 20 goals or more for the last seven straight seasons. While he's known more for his goals Neal does distribute the puck well enough. He's bagged double-digit assists in all of his full NHL seasons. The only real downside at this point is his age, he will be 31 at the start of this season. While this should not be cause for much concern it is worth noting. Flames fans shouldn't be surprised to see Neal play in roughly the same amount of games as last season.

Thankfully, the Flames young roster should be able to handle Neal playing not only fewer games but less ice time as well. For Neal to be truly successful he needs to be surrounded by good passers, and the Flames have that in abundance. Neal should find himself on one of the top two lines centered by either Sean Monahan or Mikael Backlund. Both of which had over 30 assists last season. Not only that but they have great puck moving defenseman (I'll get more into this is the season preview). Even with all that it still may get better for Neal. The Flames staff should be trying to find a way to get both Neal and Johnny Gaudreau (AKA Johnny Hockey) on a Power Play together. Gaudreau is one of the best passers in the league, and the combination of Neals shot, and Gaudreau's passing could be lethal.

Prediction: With the roster that the Flames have Neal should have less pressure on his shoulders than in years past. This should give him more ice to work with, which will be helpful as his game slows down. Neal should be headed to another productive season: 27 Goals, 15 Assists, and 42 Points.

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