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Winger James Neal signed a $ 28.75 million five-year deal Monday, giving Johnny Gaudreau and the rest of the Flames a much needed boost.
Neal has totaled 20 goals in each of his 10 games. He was considered the best player on the independent broker market one day after the opening of the NHL signing period.
The signing also comes a day after CEO Brad Treliving spoke of the need to improve his positions. Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk
"One of the things we looked to deal with this off season was to add depth and versatility to our unit before, said Treliving. At the end of the year, I talked a little about ourselves as the team relying on too few players to do too much.
Calgary becomes Neal's third team in as many seasons. He was selected by Vegas in the NHL Draft a year ago and scored 25 goals and 44 points in 71 games for the Golden Knights.
Neal, 30, also played for Pittsburgh and Nashville. and 495 points in 703 career games.
The Flames also signed ahead of Derek Ryan for a three-year contract of $ 9.375 million. Ryan scored 15 goals and 38 points in his second full season with Carolina last year. Calgary also added center Austin Czarnik, who spent the previous two seasons in Boston
The Flames acquisition center, Elias Lindholm, and defender Noah Hanifin, who sent defender Dougie Hamilton, the # 39 winger Micheal Ferland and Adam Fox College in Carolina
The Flames missed the playoffs for the seventh time in nine years, falling out of the competition finishing 5-13-1 in the final month of the season . This was a stretch in which Calgary scored three or more goals five times and was badped four times.
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