[Portzline] CBJ have released James Neal from his PTO.
twitter.com/Aportzline/status/157698266054669...
twitter.comPosted Oct 3, 2022, 5:29 PM UTC
5124
twitter.comGood lol.
I've admittedly been pretty open about how little I like the guy but even putting him being a shitbag aside, I couldn't see any reason to keep him over any of the young guys who could hold down a fourth line spot instead.
39
I like to think this was just a massive troll job by our FO staff just so they could cut him.
12
My hope was it was just so Dorsett could catch him with a blindside elbow in the hall one day for evensies.
6
My memory might be mistaken but I recall that Boll was buddies with Neal. I thought this could just be a favor to Boll.
5
Notice that they kept him right until the point Cole Sillinger came back and Boone is just about ready to go. When Jarmo said he was here to meet the veteran requirement for preseason games, he meant it.
9
I was pretty relieved to hear that, yeah! I think I'm just slightly scarred for life after 19-20 because part of my brain kept occasionally going "shit, he had a decent camp, what if we have a bunch of injuries and we have to keep him" lmao.
2
I feel the exact same way but I did think he looked decent in the games I watched, but he would have had to be head and shoulders better than the younger guys to make the team. He was decidedly not
3
I guess he wasn't the real deal for us...let's take a knee for him for a moment.
36
Just for the record, we were never likely to sign him, we had him for the 8 veteran rule. https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/xacrz5/this_is_your_friendly_annual_reminder_that_almost/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
10
Good thing Bob got him on The Inside Edge while he could lol
8
James "The No Deal" Neal
6
I am new to the Blue Jackets community, why is he so disliked? I couldn’t really find anything on google and as a certified hater, I am intrigued.
edit: Thank you everyone, this guy blows.
6
He's one of the dirtiest players in the NHL. Think of Tom Wilson or Brad Marchand without the skill. And he has gone WAY downhill the last 4 years on his level of play when not kneeing or elbowing players.
He once made a habit of really dirty hits that either altered or nearly ended some players' careers. He blindisded Derek Dorsett from behind with an elbow to the back of the head against the glass and I am not sure Dorse was ever the same.
Just look up "James Neal dirty hits" on Youtube and get the rage.
8
He's also the king of throwing a cheap shot & then skating off and letting someone else handle the mess. A coward, really.
3
He's got a reputation for a lot of pretty ugly hits, with knees and elbows and shit.
His laundry list includes injuring two ex-Blue Jackets who were quite popular during their time here. He felt the need to quite literally pull Derrick Brassard's arm out of its socket during a fight in 08‐09 (Brassard was a rookie and had absolutely no fighting skill, so it was completely unnecessary) and a year later he threw an elbow at Derek Dorsett's head while the guy had his back completely turned and was facing the boards. Dorse fell to his knees then completely dropped and it looked like he was out cold before his knees even hit the ice. Absolutely horrific to watch.
6
He was a real shit stirrer in the league during his prime years. Got involved with some drama if I remember right and just was one of those guys who rode the edge in a bad way. Never as dirty (from my recollection) as Wilson or the Rat but in the same ballpark.
4
Yeah I thought the best he was going to be was sitting in the press box every night as a healthy scratch so they had the extra guy “ready” and he would get to collect a check for doing some figure skating at practice. Not surprised he’s donezo here
3
Thank God, good riddance bozo
3
I talked a lot of shit about him in the past. So glad I don't actually have to cheer for him this season lol
2
He was an ass to my wife.
1
Do tell.
2
He was staying at a hotel my wife works at and didn’t put a DND sign on his door so she came up and said “housekeeping” and he didn’t answer so she did it again and then tried to go in to clean and he said “my rooms been cleaned go the f away!” It’s like bro if you didn’t want to be disturbed put the sign up on the door it’s common sense.
2
Oh no! Anyway
I read this news and continued in with my day