Last week’s trade of Milan Lucic for James Neal may be the ultimate in wishful thinking deals.



Both players have shown in the past they are elite players. But the elite bus seems to have left the station for both of them. Or is it just idling around the corner? The Calgary Flames are banking that Lucic can bounce back and provide a much-needed blend of scoring touch and truculence (sorry, Brian Burke, for appropriating your oft-used term) for a team that followed up a dynamic regular season by laying a five-game playoff egg against the eight-seed Avalanche. The Oilers are projecting that Neal, 10 times a 20-goal scorer, hasn’t jumped the goal-scoring shark after producing a paltry seven goals last season in Calgary, his first after signing a five-year deal worth $28.75 million, and following that up with a forgettable postseason that saw him a healthy scratch by the time the series ended.



It’s a compelling story either way but certainly far more...