LW Neal is feeling all right in move
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Penguins James Neal is stopped by Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun during a game last season at the Consol Energy Center last season. Neal hopes to regain his scoring touch this season.
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It is, of course, far too early to declare this experiment a success.
The sampling is too small to reach any serious conclusions.
Still, that doesn't mean the Penguins can't be encouraged by what they've seen from James Neal since he was shifted to right wing at the start of training camp.
"I think the best he's looked in camp is when he's been on the right side," coach Dan Bylsma said Monday. "At times, he's done very well out there."
Neal played left wing, his customary position, after being acquired from Dallas in February, but the coaching staff decided in the offseason to move him.
Neal is expected to get some more work on the right side when the Penguins face Los Angeles at 8 tonight in Kansas City, although the lineup for that game has not been announced.
"We're going to get more examples of [Neal on the right side] here in the next three games," Bylsma said. "[It's] not a real concern at this time."
The long-term plan is to use Neal on a line with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz, but the uncertainty of when Crosby will return from a concussion has prevented them from playing together in exhibition games.
Consequently, whether that group will develop the chemistry the coaching staff expects, and which is needed to be a productive unit, is conjecture.
"Who knows who I'm going to play with, but we do drills together in practice and stuff," Neal said. "I'm sure there will be a little feeling-out process, but hopefully we'll be ready to get going as soon as [Crosby] is ready to go.
"But at the same time, whoever I get a chance to play with, I'm more than happy to."
Regardless of whether Neal ends up playing alongside Crosby and Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin and Steve Sullivan or, for that matter, Marc-Andre Fleury and a fire hydrant, the Penguins will be counting on him to generate a minimum of 20 goals, and they'd prefer something a lot closer to 30.
There's nothing unreasonable about that, considering that Neal has scored 21 or more in each of his three NHL seasons.
Neal's touch deserted him after he joined the Penguins, however. He got one goal in 20 regular-season games, and one more in seven games against Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs.
He still played the power-forward game that convinced the Penguins to part with defenseman Alex Goligoski to acquire him, but did not fill the void for a goal-scoring winger that was one of the Penguins' major weaknesses.
First Published September 27, 2011 12:00 am
