Bombshell: Flyers make offer to Weber; will Nashville match?
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Bombshell: Flyers make offer to Weber; will Nashville match?
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Flyers hope they have found Chris Pronger’s successor.
His name is Shea Weber, a 6-foot-4, 232-pounder who is arguably the game's best all-around defenseman.
They signed a 14-year offer sheet for a reported $110 million late Wednesday night for Weber, a restricted free agent with Nashville. Weber, owner of one of the game's hardest shots, had 19 goals and anchored Nashville's stellar defense last season.
The righthanded-shooting Weber scored 10 power-play goals last season, had a plus-21 rating and was a finalist for the Norris Trophy, given to the league's top defenseman.
TSN was first to report Wednesday's stunning development.
If Nashville matches the offer, Weber, 26, remains with the Predators.
The Predators, who lost all-star defenseman Ryan Suter to free agency recently, have seven days to match.
If the Preds don’t match, the Flyers would have to give Nashville four first-round picks — reasonable for a player of Weber's stature.
After the season, the Flyers said it was “highly unlikely” the team would make an offer sheet to Weber, the Predators' captain.
That changed after the Flyers struck out with marquee free agents Zach Parise and Sutter. Both signed 13-year, $98 million deals with Minnesota.
NHL owners are trying to put a stop to mega-long-term contracts. They want the new CBA to limit contracts to five years.
It would be shocking, however, if the NHL's Players' Association agreed to that limit. The CBA expires on Sept. 15.
The Flyers' deal with Weber is apparently heavily loaded with upfront money — a reported $26 million signing bonus. Will Nashville, a small-market team, be able to afford such a hit?
Then again, can Nashville afford NOT signing Weber after failing to get Suter back in the fold? (Of the seven offer sheets that have been signed since 2005, six of the teams matched and retained their player's rights.)
According to multiple reports, Weber would receive $14 million in each of the first four seasons, and $12 million in the fifth and sixth years, followed by $6 million per season in years 7-10. He would get $3 million in his 11th year, and $1 million in each of his last three seasons.
TSN's Darren Dreger said Nashville was trying to work out a deal for Weber, but it is "believed several deadlines passed before the Flyers grew tired of waiting and Weber signed the offer sheet."
Give the Flyers credit for their boldness. If they land Weber, they would probably have the league's best defense, one that might look like this: Weber and Kimmo Timonen, his former Nashville teammate; Braydon Coburn and Nick Grossmann; and Andrej Meszaros and Luke Schenn.
Bruno Gervais, Erik Gustafsson, Marc-Andre Bourdon and Andreas Lilja would be among the candidates for the extra D-man spot.
By giving an offer sheet to Weber, the Flyers are, in a roundabout way, saying what everyone has feared — that Pronger's Hall-of-Fame career is over because of a concussion.
With Weber the Flyers would become instant Stanley Cup contenders.
Without him, they have not made improvement from the team that was eliminated in the second round of last season's Stanley Cup playoffs.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
- what are afraid of?? Cindy looks like that old Mexican actor Cantinflas LOL look him up. GO FLYERS!!!!
— chilenos - It should have said "will remain better defensively than Pittsburgh". Will that please the troll? — georgenhofer
- Damn, the history of the Flyers just robbing Nashville continues, Maybe Ed Snider's lost dream of becoming a country music star has led him to sign off on continually punishing that team.— Chutley26
- Probably top 3 defenseman in the league....If it happens, great move by the Flyers who will now have a big, nasty back line. He is actually better and younger than Suter...If this happens, watch out Philly fans...Flyers will be around for quite some time. As for 4 1st rounders, Flyers can afford to do this since the nucleus of the team is currently all under 26.— briman
- I dont think this will happen.. but man I sure hope it does. The salary dump will be low level stuff, probably Shelley. They have already banked almost 7 just by letting Carle and Jagr go. I dont think much will need to be done to fit him in. G will get Timmos money starting next year and one of the young D men will move up. The challenge will be to get Voracek signed. He is probably going to need at least 3.5. If the get Shea and keep Jake.... somebody has got to go.— FlyerFan8
- I LOVE this move! Weber is one of the best d-men in the league. I have been hoping the Flyers would make a play and get him for 3 years now. The compensation is actually 2 1st round picks, 1 second and 1 third. Not bad, I would give that up in a second. Plus, I put it together on capgeek, with signing Voracek to 3.5 a year and ridding us of Shelley & Lilja, we'd be around 3.3 million under the cap. Sweet! Hope there's no lockout, I getting pumped for this season.— Gilligan22
- Where are the Holmgren and Snider critics? You know, the people who think they know more than the ones who are actually in the business. I hope we land Weber and I hope we get to use him for most of those 14 years.
- Not sure what is REALLY going on here. It could just turn out to be Weber and his agent trying to get a huge deal to stay in Nashville before the current CBA expires. It could be that the Flyers are either just helping Nashville accomplish this, or are being used as pawns by Weber and his agent. We shall see.— Fly_58
- They will absolutely 100% match it...they are not going to lose Suter and Weber for nothing....100% they match— flyers1000
- It could be argued that Weber would be the best D man the Flyers ever had. Too bad the goalie acts like a 6 year old girl whenver he feels pressure.— jking91
- The crybaby will offer half his salary to Nashville to help them keep Weber.— Penguins fans have small willies
- I don't see how Nashville can afford to keep him and yet at the same time, I din't see how they can afford to lose him. This will be the beginning of the end of hockey in Nashville but hey, this dude will be a much welcome addition to Philly!— ESFjellin
Now I'm even happier that Homer let Carle walk.- They will match it or work out a deal with the Flyers (like Gratton back in the day) to trade back some or all of those picks for a couple young promising players, Gus, Bourdon, Read, Vorachec types.— Sidewinder7
- When (if?) Nashville passes then I'll get excited. Until then, meh.— Jerome99RIP
