Nashville retains Weber
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Nashville retains Weber
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Shea it aint so.
The Flyers have struck out with another marquee free agent.
Nashville announced it had matched the Flyers' 14-year, 110-million offer sheet to star defenseman Shea Weber, who thus is retained by the Predators.
“In tendering an offer sheet to Shea Weber, we were trying to add a top defenseman entering the prime of his career," Flyers GM Paul Holmgren said in a statement. "With Nashville matching our offer, we wish Shea and the Predators all the best.”
Holmgren said there would be no further comment at the moment.
As reported earlier today, Nashville seemed on the verge of matching when two sources said it had not been involved in trade talks with the Flyers since Weber signed Philadelphia's offer sheet on Wednesday.
The absence of trade talks led to speculation that Nashville was going to sign him.
For the Flyers, they figure to turn to Plan B - trying to sign Shane Doan or acquiring Bobby Ryan. Or will Holmgren give an offer sheet to another restricted free agent, such as Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban?
But make no mistake, this is a MAJOR setback to the franchise. A team with Claude Giroux and Shea Weber as its anchors - along with a terrific young nucleus - would have been a perennial Stanley Cup contender.
In a news release, Nashville said, in part, "Would a decision not to match the offer sheet send a negative message to current Predators players and other NHL organizations, a message that the Predators would only go so far to protect its best players and be pushed around by teams with 'deep pockets?' "
To avoid that negative message — and, more importantly, to land arguably the NHL's best all-around defenseman — Nashville's 10-member ownership group was able to justify the staggering contract, which is the second-largest in league history. Washington's Alex Ovechkin signed a 13-year, $124 million deal in 2008.
The Flyers had front-loaded the contract — $27 million in the first calendar year, $68 million over the first five seasons — to make it difficult for the small-market Predators to match it.
"He's excited; he said the ownership group stepped up," said Jarrett Bousquet, one of Weber's agents.
Give the Flyers an 'A' for effort, but the bottom line is this: After striking out on free-agents Weber, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the Flyers are no better than the team that lost in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last season.
Tweeted one fan after hearing the news that the Flyers didn’t land the game-changing defenseman that they desperately wanted: “I'm so bummed I don't even want to use my Weber grill tonight.”
(more to come)
Well, there goes Nashville. They will be bankrupt like the Yotes next season.— azguz- Nashville has lost money every year for the past 3 seasons. I don't know what they are thinking in matching this offer. Maybe they are hoping for a bailout from Obama/Romney. Another thing to keep in mind is that they have to pay Weber $27M regardless of whether the NHL plays 1 game or 82 this season. — F. Harry Stowe
- Look at it this way Harry. Nashville, even with Weber's salary thrown in, is still under the cap minimum!! They have to find someone to pay more money to just to abide by cap regulations. Meeting Webers numbers is a tough pill to swallow in the first year, but after that, the Predators should be ok and continue to make the playoffs. If they don't make the Playoffs, they, like other small city teams, will be going out of business to pay these players. Even mediocre players are making $5-$6 million a year now and that is going to kill a lot of teams, especially in the southern and western USA. — redstaterightwinger
- Insert Sour Grapes comment here.— AreaMan
- They really didn't have much of a choice. Darned if they do, darned if they don't. Like when the Tonner weighs (no pun intended) his options at 2 AM. A 2 at 10 is a 10 at 2. Wonder who the Flyers 2 will be?— hunglikeaton
- They really didn't have much of a choice. Darned if they do, darned if they don't. Like when the Tonner weighs (no pun intended) his options at 2 AM. A 2 at 10 is a 10 at 2. Wonder who the Flyers 2 will be?— hunglikeaton
- Sounds like a trade is coming soon!— Phillyfan among the NYers
- How much are your beer goggles costing you, brotha'?— Claudio Vernight
- I still think Homer made an excellent move.— Nitroglycerin
- good run made by flyers. low risk, high reward. at very least its blocking weber being moved in FA next year to a division/conference rival.— AndyReidsMustache
- Sour grapes much, azguz? I grew up in Philly a Flyers' fan, and they remain my 1b team, but since moving to Nashville, the Predators are 1a. Holmgren played a game of high-stakes poker and lost. I can imagine that after the Rangers landed Nash for a song (compared to what most expected), Poile had Homer over a barrel: pay up, or deal with an improved Rangers team that owned you last year. Homer put himself in this situation and it didn't quite work out as planned. He could have put together a trade offer to land Weber earlier but decided to go the money-bomb route and miscalculated. And no, Nashville will not be going bankrupt any time soon.— PabloD
- Holmgren lost? The battle for Weber?, yes but for long term? No. The Predators will be paying out more to one player next season then they took in all of last season in ticket sales. Hockey is done in Nashville. Either they will move to Quebec or file for bankruptcy. — F. Harry Stowe
- Just wondering, do you by any chance know what the phrase 'sour grapes' actually means? It refers to a situation in which I wanted something but didn't get it, so now I pretend that I'm glad at the outcome, as in "those grapes were probably sour". Doesn't apply here; we all wanted Weber.
Just by way of a reality check, the Preds are paying way, way, way more than they can afford to pay for a defenseman, regardless of how great he certainly is. They don't have the supporting cast to allow him to be any more than what he is now - a terrific defenseman on a pretty good, not-nearly-cup-contending team.— 1980 - We cant trade for him, genius— fman727
- Rangers didnt get any better! Gabornik is out half the year, they lost their two main gritty guys.. NYR are good bc they have the best goalie in the world.— fman727
