Weber is arguably the best defenseman in the NHL. He wants to get paid as such while still having the team he plays for the ability to be competitive. He signed an offer sheet that allows this either here or in Philly. He also probably realizes the team needs to retool for this season so signing a front loaded contract is not going to effect us signing players in the future as his cap hit and actually salary will be fair.
We won't trade Weber as someone said earlier because why would we match the offer, pay him huge bucks for one season, only to see his salary be fair and then trade him for pieces? Makes no sense.
Weber forced Poile's hand. Good for him. He and his agent worked the system as did Philly and Holmgren. If we don't match we're idiots and at that point, the owners are full of ****. This is a no brainer. If you want to compete in the NHL, you have to keep your home grown talent. Weber is one of the best if not the best defenseman in the league. He should get paid what he's worth.
Holmgren really did us a favor and just sped up the process. Within 7 days we will all be very happy or very sad.
Have to agree here. As a fan, I don't give a **** about the money. I just want the best players.
Question. Does Nashville have to match the total money per year, or the exact bonus/salary structure? If they can match just the total money and pay that out spread out over the year as salary instead of having to sign off on two huge checks within the next calendar year as signing bonuses, that's a big difference. I think in that case they definitely match.
Here is what I am seeing as the offer from Philly per HB :
Year 1 through 4 - $1 million salary, $13 million signing bonus
Year 5 through 6 – $4 million salary, $8 million signing bonus
Year 7 through 10 - $6 million salary
Year 11 - $3 million salary
Year 12 through 14 - $1 million salary
Question. Does Nashville have to match the total money per year, or the exact bonus/salary structure? If they can match just the total money and pay that out spread out over the year as salary instead of having to sign off on two huge checks within the next calendar year as signing bonuses, that's a big difference. I think in that case they definitely match.
After seeing the details, I highly doubt the owners pony up this kind of ridiculous money the first 4 years. What a joke: playing for $1 million per year but with a $13 mil signing bonus. Sadly, I'm starting to think we should just take the draft picks and rebuild. I don't want to think that but I'm just concerned that all that money will really handcuff us as a franchise in the next few years and it's not worth it for one guy. This just keeps getting worse and worse.
I don't see us matching that much of a front loaded contract. This was designed in a way that really really hurts us fiscally. We'll have a hard time putting a competitive team around Weber with that type of front loading.
Poile again, put himself in this position. He waited too long to sort out the Suter and Weber situations.
If we do a sign and trade (Which I am totally against), I would suggest to keep this yr, of course, but not trade in the summer. I would keep him the following yr till the trade deadline and then trade. I am sure he will have a NTC/NMC but if he gives us 4-5 teams he would go to, I can see us getting a ton of players/prospects/picks at the trade deadline.
I think Poile was delinquent in not signing Suter and Weber to longer term deals when they were younger and locking them up then vs waiting till UFA/RFA. Unless both players decided years ago long term Nashville would never really contend due to financial reasons and they wanted to play their contracts out and test the market. Plus Weber is on record of wanting to play for a contender. Nashville has done a remarkable job in that regard. But the Flyers go for it every year.
Biggest shot across the bow however will be the have not owners going to war with the have owners in the CBA. This contract will be the prize for the NHLPA who will argue that the league can fix its problems from NFL style revenue sharing and not take from players pockets to do so.
If we do a sign and trade (Which I am totally against), I would suggest to keep this yr, of course, but not trade in the summer. I would keep him the following yr till the trade deadline and then trade. I am sure he will have a NTC/NMC but if he gives us 4-5 teams he would go to, I can see us getting a ton of players/prospects/picks at the trade deadline.
But why trade him after paying such a huge percentage of the total contract? Might as well keep him then.
Say Tavares didn't have his current (awesome) deal and a team were to offersheet him for 14 years 100+million. You'd rather the Isles let him walk for 4 crappy firsts? I'm not a big fan of the long term deals either, but there are a select group of players you do it for. And I'd say both Weber and Tavares are in that group.
i cant really answer that to be honest. on one hand i would want to keep the player. However on the other hand look at our past two long deals and how they worked out. I guess part of the issue is i dont think webber is worth what the flyers have offered him.
Are you really that ****ing daft? Do you not comprehend that Weber has basically given the preds the middle finger? By signing this contract, not only does that prohibit us from trading him for a package we want, but it means our captain doesn't want to be in Nashville. Not only that, but if we match, we aren't allowed to trade him for an entire year as per the current CBA and I don't see that changing in the next one. Why would we want to match an offer that obviously suggests Weber doesn't want to stay here? Before anyone comes up with a dumber idea about Weber maybe wanting Poile to match this, he would've signed a contract in the first place.
This was the absolute worst case scenario.
Couldn't disagree more. I 100% believe this move was because Poille wasn't offering Weber this contract, and Weber told himself, "Phili or Nashville I am happy". If Nashville accepts, he gets to spend his career there. It's a win-win for him.
Anyone saying this is a good thing for the Preds is out of their mind. 27 million in less than 365 days, 55 million in less than three years. Remind me again why this is good for a team with limited financial means?
Nashville best play is to match and trade Weber after 2 yrs...... that way they dont look cheap and bullied by the flyers and you get the best defenceman in the league for ahhhhmmm 13 milion a year..... if you trade him after 1 year with the way the signing bonus is set up they would pay 26 mill for 1 season.........after that instead of paying the highest salary in the league..... they would get a boat load of players and picks after 2 yrs......right now Nashville is still competing for the cup...... the next two years will be Nashvilles Window to go for it............
My question is this, will Bettman see this as cap circumvention? That's a **** ton of cash in the signing bonus.....The first possible salvo and crack in the ownership solidarity in the CBA negotiations. (Big club vs. Small club. Small possibility).....does the ownership have the liquidity to match. Also, with the cap is is far below what I thought he would get.
I am no expert on the CBA but this doesn't circumvent the cap as far as I understand it because signing bonuses count towards the cap. It just means if there is a rollback his signing bonus $ are unaffected as those are guaranteed, which is why I think Bettman tabled them.
The rest I agree with 100%. Weber is going to be the catalyst contract that will drag the CBA out pitting owner vs owner not players vs owner.
No I don't think they can match nor should they unless they are committed to the player 100% like the Avs were with Sakic. To match then trade a year from now puts them in a position of trading weakness not strength. Look at Carter and Heatley. None of the teams realized full value when the players wanted out. Luongo and Nash are dragging because teams know they want out and can lowball. The player holds all the cards. Nashville should only match if they want Weber over the entire term otherwise move on and take the pics. A new CBA will prevent contracts longer than 7 years I think and signing bonus $ will be clawed back.
I 100% believe this move was because Poille wasn't offering Weber this contract, and Weber told himself, "Phili or Nashville I am happy". If Nashville accepts, he gets to spend his career there. It's a win-win for him.
I agree, it is a win-win for Weber. If Weber really wanted to give Nashville the finger he would have discussed an offer with Detroit or Vancouver where he would play Nashville on a regular basis. This way he either plays for Nashville or a team we may see once a year. Suter on the other hand gave us the Finger.
If Weber wanted the team to be a contender in Nashville then he really just screwed them over if the team matches. Hard to see the franchise adding any players with that much bonus money going to one player.
