{"id":113803,"date":"2021-07-27T12:05:52","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T16:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=113803"},"modified":"2021-07-27T12:05:52","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T16:05:52","slug":"edmonton-oilers-buyout-james-neal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/07\/27\/edmonton-oilers-buyout-james-neal\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers Buyout Veteran Forward James Neal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/oilers\/\" target=\"_self\">Edmonton Oilers<\/a> announced that they will be buying out veteran forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nealja01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Neal<\/a>. This news comes in anticipation of a busy off-season for the Oilers after the team got swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2021 NHL playoffs.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Oilers have put James Neal on buyout waivers. He had 2 years left at a $5.75M cap hit.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SWhyno\/status\/1420052503660572675?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 27, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>James Neal Bought Out By Edmonton Oilers<\/h2>\n<p>The 33-year-old Neal was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/07\/19\/milan-lucic-traded\/\" target=\"_self\">originally acquired by the Oilers on July 19th, 2019<\/a> as a part of a trade with the Calgary Flames which saw <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/lucicmi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Milan Lucic<\/a> and a conditional 2020 third-round pick go to the Flames in return for Neal. During his tenure with the Oilers, Neal put up a combined 41 points in 84 games. Neal&#8217;s health has been a concern, as the veteran was only able to get into 29 regular season and two playoff games with the Oilers this past season.<\/p>\n<p>The power forward would have carried a $5.75 million cap hit for the next two seasons. It is safe to say that the ageing Neal&#8217;s performance wouldn&#8217;t have lived up to that contract for its remaining years. By buying him out, Neal&#8217;s contract will only cost the Oilers $1.9 million against the cap over the next four years.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">James Neal buyout details:<\/p>\n<p>Length: 4 years <br \/>Cost: $7.67M<\/p>\n<p>Cap Hit charge:<br \/>21-22: $1.9M<br \/>22-23: $1.9M<br \/>23-24: $1.9M<br \/>24-25: $1.9M<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/k74k5uAJWQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/k74k5uAJWQ<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/haHmOQswoR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/haHmOQswoR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CapFriendly\/status\/1420052605682790403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 27, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Implications on the Oilers&#8217; Future<\/h3>\n<p>After buying out Neal, the Oilers have some added cap flexibility to sign some critical players essential to their future. GM Ken Holland<\/p>\n<p>recently signed core forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nugenry01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Nugent-Hopkins<\/a> to a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/06\/29\/report-oilers-ryan-nugent-hopkins-extension\/\" target=\"_self\">massive eight-year, $41 million dollar extension<\/a>. The team still needs to make decisions on pending RFAs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/khairju01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jujhar Khaira<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/y\/yamamka01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kailer Yamamoto<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kahundo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dominik Kahun<\/a>. Some notable Oilers such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithmi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Smith<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/barrity01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyson Barrie<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/larssad01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam Larsson<\/a> all also need new contracts.<\/p>\n<p>Looking down the road, core players such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nurseda01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darnell Nurse<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bearet01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ethan Bear<\/a> all come off the books next season. Neal&#8217;s buyout will certainly help to clear some cap space to resign these players.<\/p>\n<p>After underperforming in the playoffs yet again, the Oilers will need to make some important decisions this offseason. The team will need to surround franchise forwards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcdavco01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connor McDavid<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/draisle01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Leon Draisaitl<\/a> with some talent. With McDavid and Draisaitl still in their primes, the team will look to make some signings that will help propel the team deeper into the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"t6QarIfXTOljR2KJ9NXzLg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1232913389\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'t6QarIfXTOljR2KJ9NXzLg',sig:'_n4SJQKIdGACe3t-sJEi20hpScYFs4LYQBOMQvVQINM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1232913389',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, the Edmonton Oilers announced that they will be buying out veteran forward James Neal. This news comes in anticipation of a busy off-season for the Oilers after the team got swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2021 NHL playoffs. Oilers have put James Neal on buyout waivers. He had 2 years left [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3923,"featured_media":113849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4547,34,4548],"tags":[6842,330,571],"class_list":["post-113803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oilers","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-2021-nhl-offseason","tag-james-neal","tag-ken-holland"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3923"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}