Expecting anything in return to dump Neal's contract is ridiculous. Then it being a 3rd is even more ridiculous..
Again there is a flat cap again this year, revenues are down and Oilers need cap space and there are very few teams that can take on cap.

With this post Wings pass.

its a first with the wings giving a late 3rd in return basically a 65spot upgrade for Neal.

I think the Wings might do it, considering they're getting a 1st round pick back. If they do the trade, they'll have 6 picks in the first two rounds this year. They're also 26M under the cap basement. They're one of the teams that COULD take on Neal's salary.

1st Neal's contract is 2 years not one. 2nd he is owed almost 12 million in cap over those 2 years. 3rd in this flat cap era , there are twice as many teams needing to shed cap as there is teams having cap space. All that means is Wings will just not take on Neal's contract, which they could have claimed for nothing when he was on waivers, without a major sweetener. A 1st is a start but not the only thing Oilers will need to provide to get done. Yes it is a 1at but comparables in a non cap era were a 1st of about the same cap hit for 1 year.

Wings have all the leverage and Oilers have virtually nothing. So asking for anything back for a single 1st, well Wings say NO.