Neal's scoring touch has been apparent wherever he's played, most recently with the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural NHL season.
Neal showed his scoring prowess early on with 18 goals for Plymouth in 2004-05, his first full Ontario Hockey League season. He played in the Canadian Hockey League Top Prospects Game that season and won a silver medal with Canada at the 2005 Under-18 World Championship. The Dallas Stars selected Neal in the second round (No. 33) of the 2005 NHL Draft.
Neal's scoring touch has been apparent wherever he's played, most recently with the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural NHL season.
Neal showed his scoring prowess early on with 18 goals for Plymouth in 2004-05, his first full Ontario Hockey League season. He played in the Canadian Hockey League Top Prospects Game that season and won a silver medal with Canada at the 2005 Under-18 World Championship. The Dallas Stars selected Neal in the second round (No. 33) of the 2005 NHL Draft.
Neal was chosen to the OHL First All-Star Team and CHL Second All-Star Team in 2006-07 after scoring 27 goals for OHL champion Plymouth. He had 43 points in 37 playoff games and scored a Memorial Cup-high five goals. He helped Canada win gold at the 2007 World Junior Championship.
Neal spent his first pro season with Iowa of the American Hockey League and was third on the team with 18 goals. That helped him earn a spot on the Stars in 2008-09; he ranked second among NHL rookies with 24 goals, becoming the first Stars rookie to have a 20-goal season since the franchise relocated to Dallas in 1993.
Neal scored his first NHL goal in his debut Oct. 10, 2008, against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He led the Stars with nine power-play goals and played in the 2009 NHL YoungStars Game. Neal also helped Canada earn a silver medal at the 2009 World Championship. He tied for 11th in the NHL in even-strength goals (24) in 2009-10 and had four game-winning goals, tied for the most on the Stars.
On Feb. 21, 2011, Neal was traded by Dallas to the Pittsburgh Penguins with Matt Niskanen for Alex Goligoski. In 2011-12, his first full season in Pittsburgh, Neal scored 40 goals, finished with 81 points and was named a First-Team All Star. Neal got his first playoff hat trick in the NHL in Game 5 of the first round against the Ottawa Senators on May 30, 2013.
On June 27, 2014, the Penguins traded Neal to the Nashville Predators for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling. He quickly made an impact in Nashville; in his first season with the Predators he tied for second on the team with 23 goals in 2014-15, and the following season they were 25-2-4 when he scored a goal. He scored 23 goals in 2016-17, helping the Predators advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since entering the NHL in 1998.
However, the Predators left him unprotected in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, and he was selected by the Golden Knights. Neal scored the first goal in Vegas history on Oct. 6, 2017, and had the winning goal in each game when the Golden Knights became the first NHL expansion team to win its first three games.
NOTES & TRANSACTIONS
- OHL First All-Star Team (2007)
- Canadian Major Junior Second All-Star Team (2007)
- NHL First All-Star Team (2012)
- Played in NHL All-Star Game (2012, 2016, 2018)
- Traded to Pittsburgh by Dallas with Matt Niskanen for Alex Goligoski, February 21, 2011.
- Traded to Nashville by Pittsburgh for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling, June 27, 2014.
- Claimed by Vegas from Nashville in Expansion Draft, June 21, 2017.
