Quote:
Originally Posted by bobafettish
didnt you say holmgren was a genius for offering this contract, now the contract is an albatross.  |
No, way to put words in my mouth, though.
I said it was a great gamble because Nashville ownership would have trouble matching. In that sense, yes, I felt the contract was genius, for Philadelphia, which has ownership with an infinity symbol next to their checking account.
For a smaller market team like Nashville, with far less resources, yes, the contract COULD be a major albatross.
But I didn't think Nashville would be able to match, I was confident in that, and it looks like I was wrong. My crow tastes bitter.
The real question from here is how financially strapped Nashville becomes over the next few years, and how that affects their on ice product. Also consider that nearly every professional athlete slacks a little after signing a monstrous contract, so a dip in Weber's play next season must be considered, as well.
Risky move for Nashville to match. I know a lot of you see it differently, but I feel it's a risky move. Poile was clearly thinking a retool/rebuild was necessary for the team after Suter left, hence his shopping of Weber over the last few weeks. Going forward, Poile must believe that a cash strapped Nashville with Weber is a better option than a Nashville with a lot of financial breathing room, a ton of assets in return for Weber, and a retooling. I disagree, but I'm just a dumb message board poster, and Poile is the general manager of a professional hockey team.
Also consider that, if the reports are true, Poile was trying to negotiate superior offer sheet compensation with Holmgren over the past few days, indicating his first reaction was not to match. Holmgren wouldn't budge on certain players (Schenn, Couterier), so Poile had no choice but to match.
This all points to Poile feeling his team would have been better moving forward without Weber on a monster contract, and with the assets received in return. He couldn't get what he wanted, so he resigned to plan B, keeping Weber on a monster contract and sorting through the financial ruin afterward.
Like I said in my initial post, we'll see what happens.