James Neal returns to Nashville thriving with Vegas Golden Knights

On June 11, James Neal stood on the losing side of a Stanley Cup Final handshake line at Bridgestone Arena, his broken right hand tucked inside his glove as he congratulated the Pittsburgh Penguins on their second consecutive championship.

Physically battered and emotionally fatigued, Neal had little time to process the disappointment. Left unprotected by the Predators in the expansion draft 10 days later, he became an inaugural member of the Vegas Golden Knights.

“Probably the biggest whirlwind of my life, for sure," Neal said of the final days of his three-year Predators career. “You just put your heart and your soul and everything you had into a team and tried to do everything you could to try to win a Stanley Cup. And a couple of weeks later, a week later, you’re on a new team.

"It’s definitely tough, but the way things have worked out here and gone for us, it’s been good.”

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Neal and his Vegas teammates arrive here Friday as the NHL's most intriguing story. The Golden Knights, who are in second place in the eight-team Pacific Division, are smashing expectations and resetting standards for expansion franchises.

When Vegas became the first team in the 100-year history of the NHL to win the first three games of its inaugural season, Neal tallied the game-winner in each. He has 13 goals this season, the first of which Oct. 6 also was the first goal in Golden Knights history.

The Golden Knights appear to have a legitimate chance to reach the postseason, an impressive feat for a first-year team composed of players who had few prior connections.

“You’re going to a team that’s not really a team," Neal said, describing the initial weeks of the Golden Knights. "There is no team, right? So you have a bunch of guys that have been drafted. You’re not sure if they’re going to stay or be traded or what’s going to happen.”

Neal recognized in June that there was a "pretty good chance" that the Predators would exclude him from the nine-player protection list they submitted days before the expansion draft.

It made sense to him. The 30-year-old began this season with $5 million remaining on an expiring contract, funds that the Predators needed to re-sign younger core players during the offseason.

"It really was a business decision," Predators general manager David Poile said in June. "It was as simple as that.”

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And so Neal and many others were cast off into the desert, where Golden Knights players used their mutual desire to prove their worth as motivation.

“Nobody wants to feel like the team doesn’t want you anymore," said Neal, who is approaching the 10th consecutive 20-goal season of his career. "They leave you unprotected. Maybe in some situations, it wasn’t really like that. But in quite a few, it was. … I think it’s different for every guy, obviously."

The similarities between Nashville and Las Vegas as hockey markets — the setup of the arenas in vibrant downtown corridors, the unrestrained enthusiasm of the home crowds — have eased Neal's transition. Winning helps, too.

But Neal's connection to his former city and team remain strong.

“When I came to Nashville, I bought a house right away and wanted to make it home. And I did that," Neal said. "I still have my house there. It’ll be like I’m coming home.”

Reach Adam Vingan at avingan@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamVingan.

NEXT GAME

PREDATORS vs. GOLDEN KNIGHTS

When: 7 p.m. Friday

TV/radio: Fox TN/102.5-FM