The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired James Neal (and Matt Niskanen) from the Dallas Stars in 2011 for Alex Goligoski. Since then, the Penguins were widely credited with winning the trade hands-down, although neither player is still with Pittsburgh today.
Neal played 199 regular season games with the Penguins, scoring 89 goals and 184 points. But he often ran into discipline problems. He’s been suspended and fined a few times, which had to factor into why the Penguins traded Neal to Nashville for Patric Hornqvist this past summer.
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But that trade to the Predators is a bit of a sore spot for Neal. Over the summer, Pittsburgh brought in a new general manager (Jim Rutherford) and coach (Mike Johnston) to try and get the Penguins franchise back on track towards winning its second Cup (and more) of the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era. Neal, obviously, wasn’t part of that plan and he said some interesting words about it to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Thursday:
“I mean, it wasn’t really in my hands,” Neal said. “I was a part of that team, and I never even got a call from the new coaches or the new general manager. The only time I got a call was when I had been traded.”
“It did blindside me,” he said. “But I knew something was up after the year when they said that I asked for a trade. That never happened. I didn’t ask for a trade. So at that point, I knew something was up. Still, at the same time, it’s still a shock when you get that phone call.”
The sour grapes are fun, but what’s really interesting is when the conversation with Neal turned towards playoff failures in Pittsburgh.
During Neal’s time with the Penguins, they fell twice in the first round and made one conference final – where they were swept by the Boston Bruins in 2013. Like many onlookers, Neal didn’t have a clear explanation for why a team loaded with so much world-class talent has struggled to make it through the East in the playoffs. But he did make a telling remark when he, unprompted, brought up the Philadelphia Flyers while discussing Pittsburgh’s playoff woes.
“I didn’t watch the game (on Wednesday), but I guess they lost again to the Flyers, eh?” Neal said to the Tribune-Review. “It’s the same thing that went on when I was there. What the Flyers do to the Penguins…I don’t know why things didn’t go the way they should have gone in the playoffs. I don’t know why everyone got so rattled. But it’s not my problem anymore.”
Neal isn’t involved in the Pennsylvania rivalry anymore, but that’s some juicy material for the Flyers to chirp next time they play Pittsburgh. Rattled? The Flyers will certainly be in Crosby’s and Malkin’s ear about that comment.
Neal went on to say he was “grateful” for his time in Pittsburgh. Well, we’re grateful for these comments.
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