Why take 4 years of James Neal's more expensive contract when AMac has just one year left on his?

The Flyers lack a pure scoring shooting winger and all he takes up is Amac's contract. Putting Neal on a line with playmakers like Giroux and Patrick would allow him to find the soft spot in the defense and just shoot which is what he does best.

Neal also opens up opportunity on the power play. The Flyers don't have a forward sniper on the power play. Often times Giroux and Ghost are the primary shooters and teams are more easily ready to take that shot away. Neal provides another shot threat which will open a lane for Ghost to shoot again.

I understand the concerns of Neal's down season and the talk that he's done. But there's more talk in Calgary that he is just miscast. That he's their #7 skill forward and he's outside the top 6. This has him not playing with the skill level players he needs to thrive.

AMAC is doomed to the AHL next season most likely. So the Flyers are really washing out salary for year 1. The next 3 years are a risk but Neal is worth it if he's able to score 25 goals and there's good reason to believe he can in Philly.

Hoping that a 31 year old forward who was already a 40 point player and gets hurt a fair bit bounces back from a bad season is a bad gamble to take. Burying AMac in the AHL next season is a far better option that having to pick up a bad contract for a player who's probably on the rapid decline.