Lord. The Flyers signed Shea Weber to a $110 million, 14-year offer sheet. I’ve only been awake for four hours and I’m already sick of this.
In non-140 character speak, he has accepted their offer to be paid like this:
The Predators have seven days to match the offer. If they don’t, they’ll get 4 first-round draft picks from the Flyers.
Holy cow, people. First off, the Preds went to arbitration last season because they didn’t want to pay Weber $7+ million for 3 years. Too bad, he was awarded $7.5 million for 2011-12. This $110/million deal averages to $7.86 million a year. Weber will be 27 when the season starts and before he turns 33, over 72% of the contract will have been paid out. Astronomical numbers, but the average and the front-loading sound like pretty good deals. In 7-10 years from now, $6 million/year will probably be peanuts compared to what the kids are getting paid. After that $13 million/year bonus disappears in 4 years, Weber becomes even more attractive trade bait.
More attractive than this?
My head hurts.
Bonuses count against the salary cap. The Preds have room under their cap for a deal like this. Here’s the best part: it’s front-loaded to discourage the Predators from signing because… Weber will earn $27 million in the first *calendar* year of this deal. WTF, how is that possible? [link] Here’s how:
If they match, the Preds would have him for 14 years. But does Weber want to stay in NSH? Arbitration last summer, would have been UFA next summer, and now this. Is Shea sick of waiting for a deal, or trying to jump ship?
And if the Preds match, they have to keep Weber for one season before trying to trade. That one season will cost them $27 million. Unhappy player vs a shit-ton of money? I’d give anything to know what Weber’s feeling on Nashville really is.
Bigger meets BetterFasterMore.
The really important part of this conversation is: STAY OUT OF THE EASTERN CONFERENCE, SHEA WEBER.
This is my nightmare. Shea Weber as a Flyer. Ice crews trained to squeegee my favorite players’ faces/blood/talent off the glass in arenas up and down the eastern seaboard. Watching every game through my fingers. Knowing Sid is out there six games against this guy, instead of one. Or Nicky B. Anyone. Oh God.
Sorry, Blackhawks. Keep your heads up out there.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled day of watching Twitter so see what happens next. I don’t know if this post even makes sense after so many numbers.
Tags: nashville predators, philadelphia flyers, shea weber
I hadn’t even considered the fact he’d be playing against Sid and Backstrom. Anddddd, now I’m concerned.
Well everyone in Flyers territory didn’t want him going to any of the other teams in the Eastern Conference. It was the same with Suter and Parise. The thought of any one of them on the Penguins or Caps made me cringe and want to cry.
So, how is NOT circumventing the cap? The Flyers have spent this off season sending offer sheets to drive up players contract numbers, pretty much playing dirty pool. I guess the NHL and Bettman likes them since they dont get fined and lose picks over it. Its crap like this that created the need for a Cap, between them and the Rangers prior to the CBA, I dont know who i hate more.
Heres to another early playoff exit Flyer fans, your teams job is done.
I have read three pieces on the salary cap trying to figure this out, and I can’t really grasp it. Then add in teams trying to circumvent the cap to make the FLOOR, not even the ceiling! My head spins.
http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2012-07-19/shea-weber-flyers-offer-nashville-predators-nhl-labor-negotiations
Again I say – Math is dumb.
ALL THE NUMBERS are giving me a migraine…
As a Flyers fan, I’m already sick of hearing about this. Do I like Weber? Yeah. Do I want to max the cap on him? Not so much.
Philly would have to give up 4 1st round picks to get #6. I’m a bit terrified that the Preds will find a way to take some of our young talent [that I’ve foolishly fallen in love with] in lieu of taking some of those picks (can they even do that? Someone on Twitter mentioned it)
I’d like to just fast forward a week and deal with what happens.
I WAS TOLD THERE WOULD BE NO MATH AS A HOCKEY FAN.
I’m more confused than ever and there’s no point in re-reading. No wonder Poile said they’d need time to respond due to the complexities of the offer. Holmgren has crafted some voo doo witchcraft magic here.
THRILLED if he goes to the East. Then he can leave Jonathan Toews alone.
When did the Flyers become Bain Capital?
That is what I am wondering. I know these owners have tons of money, but exactly how much cash do they have lying around? Would they have to take out a “Fedorov Loan” in order to pay him $27 million in a twelve month period? Blows my mind!
LOL! The closest I ever get to math in hockey is me watching my son play D and thinking he should take a better angle on an opponent. Then my brain goes, “Ack! Geometry!” and wants to explode.
Seriously, I look at these contracts and am not surprised that the player representation agencies are full of lawyers and Harv, um…BU graduates.
He signed the offer sheet to avoid getting traded to Philly. He doesn’t want to play in Philly, or in the Eastern Conference. Yes, one of his best buddies from Rocket days (Luke Schenn) is a Flyer but they both shoot right so it’s not like they can be paired up so everybody getting wet over that idea needs to quit it. He’s trying to control his destiny, perhaps to a fault. The gamble is that Nashville will match. If he really would prefer playing elsewhere (he really likes Nashville but there are other teams that might be realistically more attractive to him for a host of reasons) after this coming season, they can revisit the trade scenario.
I hope for his sake that Nashville matches. In a perfect world, Nashville would have been able to finesse a trade with San Jose or Anaheim. They would have gotten the pieces they needed, he would have stayed put in the WC and landed in a hockey market that would be a much better fit.
FYI – The reason he’s an elite defenseman isn’t because he slams heads into the glass. That was quite an uncharacteristic lapse for him, as a matter of fact. He’s large and intimidating, but he’s one of the most highly skilled and versatile skaters on the ice and he uses his smarts to thwart forwards 99% of the time. I know many of you are Eastern Conference-centric and don’t watch many Western Conference games. I just don’t think it’s accurate to be “afraid” of him for any reason other than his mad skillz. He’s a talented player and deserves a hefty payday. How much is too much, though?
I completely agree on his skill – I want him on my team, or as far away from my team(s) as possible. Definitely not with the closest rival because I fear his abilities as much as his physical presence. The Zetterberg thing was dirty, we’re over it. Who wasn’t dirty in the playoffs this year? It’s every other completely legal physical play that results in a turnover, on which Weber is capable of capitalizing, that scares me.
Signing an offer with the Flyers to avoid going to the Flyers seems dumb, especially at numbers Nashville might not match. Too risky. I’d love to see Weber stay in NSH – it’s turned into a great hockey market, been exciting and successful of late and they deserve to have their club investing in marquee guys. With Suter gone… I always fear every expansion team is a few bad decisions/circumstances/seasons away from being in Columbus’ position.
That said, I think Nashville will match. Just feels that way to me.
Based on his agent’s interview with TSN, it appears that term was the most significant factor and his agents felt that they had no choice but to demand par with Suter’s deal or more (“the market changed after July 4”). This is what I meant when I said that by signing an offer sheet (rather than being traded) he had guaranteed control over the term/amount of his contract and in theory, he would get it either from Philly or Nashville. By giving Nashville a 50/50 shot at matching, the suggestion is that he wouldn’t be averse to playing there for the long-term although this interview suggests that if Nashville matches, it’ll be weird. As Dr. Evil says. He doesn’t want to go through another rebuilding phase. He wants to stay put somewhere for the duration of his career, and win a Cup. Sounds like he doesn’t much care where that happens as long as he has the best shot at winning with that team. Personally, I find it hard to fathom that Philly would appear to be the best option out there in this regard and from an organizational standpoint, but whatever. Initially, I thought he was open to staying in Nashville if they met his terms and that the offer sheet was a way to lock them into matching. Now, I realize I was mistaken.
In light of this interview, I don’t want Nashville to match him. Clearly, they weren’t his first choice and it’s not what he wants. He deserves to have what he wants, warts and all. Nashville deserves players who are truly respectful of their franchise – professional but also respectful players. It’s a two-way street.
If this deal does go through, what this tells me is that Chris Pronger is done and isn’t going to play. Lose one dominating defenceman to gain another.
Personally I want Weber to stay as far away from the Eastern Conference as possible. He’s too good and scary and I don’t want my teams to have to play him in the regular season. I feel like Nashville can’t afford to lose Weber especially since Suter is gone. While the Preds forwards are good and Pekka is stellar, they will suffer without Weber’s commanding prescence on the blue line.
You’re absolutely right. What’s really devastating is how this is affecting Nashville’s fanbase. Preds fans have been going through the ringer since trade deadline back in February, and have watched their team unravel ever since. If Weber leaves the team will need to recalibrate its talent and figure out what to do about naming a new captain and finding a fresh face for the franchise. Fans need something to be excited about. Right now, it’s just uncertainty and doom and gloom. Pekka is the logical choice for “face of the franchise” but it’ll arguably take years to recover if Weber is allowed to walk at this juncture.
Poile’s fault. And hockey players. And that f***ing Orange Crush Kool-Aid (bug juice) Holmgren and Lavvy make their guys drink instead of Gatorade. Weber drank the tainted Orange Crush Kool-Aid. It’s the Lindros fan in him, but you think he would have remembered how horribly the Flyers organization treated Lindros. He should have brushed up on his hockey history instead of the Orange Crush Version Of Hockey History.