Weber

I said it two weeks ago… Paul Holmgren is never done.

At 12:45 am this morning, TSN's Darren Dreger reported that Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber has agreed to a 14-year offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers for over $100 million.

Predators GM David Poile will have seven days to match the offer sheet. Poile said earlier in the offseason that he would match anything Weber put his name on. Paul Holmgren has officially called Poile's bluff.

If for some reason the Predators elect not to match, they could receive up to four first-round compensatory picks, depending on the structure of the contract. But ya know, structure could mean a lot of things like… this.

 

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

Okay, let me slow down a second here. It's late… I'm groggy, and kind of excited that there's hockey news that doesn't have the acronym "C.B.A." attached to it.

::goosefraba::

…better. Alright.

I absolutely jumped out of bed for this because… this is the kinda shit you jump out of bed for, but here's the deal: I do believe Poile will match… maybe. I believed it more when the Preds still had a chance to sign Ryan Suter, but that ship has sailed. Weber was "in disbelief" and as discouraged as Poile was when Suter made the jump to Minnesota and according to Dreger, the team has been weighing their options in trade talks with four other teams, including the Flyers. Weber's feelings on Suter's departure are attached to this chain of events, and Poile seemingly had his doubts about being able to ink Weber to a long-term deal… otherwise, why would he be talking trade scenarios?

The other side of this? The Flyers may have done these guys a favor because this isn't a contract Weber was going to sign with Nashville. If Poile matches, he has his guy (one of them, at least) for the next 14 years. That's why the structure of this contract is so important. Homer wouldn't make this move if there was NO possibility that Weber could join the Flyers, would he?

I have to say, though… it makes you wonder how badly Weber wants out of Nashville if he just signed a 14-year offer sheet with a team who FUCKING TRADED THREE OF THEIR LONGEST CONTRACTS IN THE PAST YEAR ALONE has made quite a few transactions..um… recently. 

The bottom line is that when news breaks like this, we're going to talk scenarios. Whatever is happening behind the scenes at this point doesn't matter. Because there's only one move before anything else can happen…

…Nashville either matches the offer sheet, or they don't.