Bombshell: Flyers make offer to Weber; will Nashville match?
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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.
- I am sure people will start booing Weber as soon as he hits the Philly ice. Once they notice that defensemen don't prevent 3-on-2's....which has been this teams problem.
— Hexy4GM - Nashville is in deep trouble financially. The current ownership group is looking at get another investor who can infuse $15-25 million dollars into the club. Additionally, the team receives signifcant governmental support annually to help with the team's operations. The Weber deal is $80 million frontloaded over the first six years of the deal. Where will this money come from? I doubt Nashville taxpayers are going to want the goverment to throw more money to the Predators to keep Weber. I don't see how they can possibly match considering their current financial situation. My guess is that Nashville is going to try and save face and agree to a deal with the Flyers. I hate the idea of the Flyers giving up any of their young talent but the Schenn brothers, a couple of prospects and draft picks might be what it takes to make everyone happy. Effectively, the deal would be JVR, Brayden Schenn, prospects and draft picks for Shea Weber. I would gladly make that deal.— syddan26
- Nashville will match the Flyers offer: after 1 yr. he then can be traded antwhere.
You better hope the Russian between the posts can stop the puck in the playoffs! How many cups could the Flyers have won if Clarke would have gotten Ed Belfour instead of out an to pasture Vanbezbrook.
Goaltending wins Cups in the playoffs...#17 hasn't figured that out yet either yet.— NHL1966 - They will match...they cannot lose both stars to FA...— Napa818
- Gotta love phlyer phans...almost 40 years without a cup and they still act like they are a dynasty....
— thingfish - Check out what franchises have won the most games in those 40 years. I'll help you out: Montreal and Philadelphia. Cup or no Cup the Flyers are in it to win it. Unlike the Pens who had to tank for a solid decade, and almost lost their team to KC in order to become relevant again. — sla6yer
- Gotta love jealous haters. I'm betting that your team hasn't won a cup in at least three years, and was recently beaten by them in the playoffs. — georgenhofer
- We can all speculate but at the end of the day we just don't know what Nashville will do. Weber signed the offer sheet for multiple reasons (in my opinion obviously)-Nashville isn't going anywhere quickly. It will be a while before they see the championship rounds. They just started making the playoffs. The market in Nashville is growing but how fast and how big? I think Weber wants to come to a team that consistently makes the playoffs and has a shot to win it each year. Plus he just saw Suter sign a huge long term deal with the Wild.
B Schenn is going nowhere-you don't sign his brother just to trade the other away again. And Vorachek and Read for Ryan? No way. He may be good but he isn't worth both of those guys; Read maybe but not Vorachek; I haven't seen a Flyer bring the puck deep into the zone like he does in a long time and keep control of it.
And regarding the CBA-owners want shorter contracts. fine but then adjust the cap limits because these deals are done to work within the cap limit. They want it both ways and it just isn't happening.— ena1977 - Nashville is not losing Weber like they lost Suter. Nashville will be well compensated and with the way they draft they will be ok. Think about it. Two 1st round picks for the next 4 years?
I hope Flyers get this guy. I want to see him firing 100mile per hour slappers at shot blocking NY Rangers and Pittsburgh. Keeping my fingers crossed.
— Nitroglycerin - Great news. No guts, no glory - awesome move by Homer. Marked the 25th on my calendar.— OrangeFury
- Can a No Trade Clause be a part of this? If so,if Nashville matches could that prevent them from trading him in a year? I wonder if that's a crucial part of this signing that isn't known?— Fly_58
- Nashville will match. Someone has to put their foot down to prevent wealthy teams like the Flyers from stealing players.— Drew777
- Since when is signing free agents to market value contracts stealing? Stop crying. — sla6yer
- Sam, how are you determining the Flyers would have to give up 4 1st round pics if the Preds don't match. Here is the RFA comp rules:
If a team signs a RFA to an offer sheet, and his 2011-12 team doesn’t match, they are awarded draft pick compensation depending on the amount they sign for. RFAs that have filed for salary arbitration can’t be signed to offer sheets.
•$1,110,249 or below None
•Over $1,110,249 to $1,682,194 3rd round pick.
•Over $1,682,194 to $3,364,391 2nd round pick.
•Over $3,364,391 to $5,046,585 1st and 3rd round pick.
•Over $5,046,585 to $6,728,781 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick.
•Over $6,728,781 to $8,410,976 2 1st round picks, 1 2nd and 3rd round pick.
•Over $8,410,976 4 1st round picks.
According to this it appears to me that the Flyers would only have to give up (2 1st round picks, 1 2nd and 3rd round pick), because the annualized value of the contract would be $7.857mm/yr ($110mm/14yrs). Am I missing something????
— scubapro - Yes, the average used to determine compensation is based on the first 5 years of the contract only. So they are welllll within the range of 4 1st rounders given that the average of the first 5 years will be something like $12mil. We're lucky the provisions stop there or we'd be looking at giving up about 6 1st rounders, haha. — sla6yer
