Once a Kings Fan Too
Joined: Jun. 2018
Posts: 39,676
Likes: 24,592
If Ryan Miller finally retires, Anaheim has Anthony Stolarz as the probable backup to John Gibson and two excellent European youngsters (Dostal and Durny) in the wings, so Skinner is a non-entity for us.
To take on Neal's contract, which runs for three more years (unlike the Backes contract), we'd need a lot more than a 2021 one-round upgrade into the third and an RFA third-pairing defenseman whose qualifying offer is $2 million. We traded a real player for Backes, a first-round pick and a good RD prospect, so think in terms of Max jones for Neal (with $1.5 or $2 million retention), your 2021 first, and Raphael Lavoie. I know that seems like a very high price, but I repeat that Neal's contract runs for three more seasons (incl 2020-2021).