Flyers sign Shea Weber to a 14 year offer sheet.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=400969

If the Preds do not match then the Flyers will have 7 defenders at $3.5m or higher...... Guess they wanted to get that in before the lengths are limited in the new CBA! Do the Preds match? That is a lot of money for sure.

I think the preds have to match. Weber is their captain and probably the best d-man in the league. Four probably late 1st round picks are not even worth considering imo!

Indeed but with the financial struggles the Preds have never been one to chuck money about so it will be a tough decision for them. Fans will go absolutely crazy however if they do not match it.....

I'm sure I read somewhere that the preds were financially able to sign both Weber and Suter to competitive deals. If you have lost one marquee d-man already you would surely move mountains to make sure you kept the other!

Oh really? I hadn't seen that. Certainly if they have the means then there is no way they don't match. I think the difficult part is that apparently this deal contains $26m up front.....thats a lot of money to pay up in one go!

The Flyers can sign who they want on D , until they get a goaltender better than Bryz there not winning anything. I think the Preds match the offer also i dont believe any player is worth 4 first round draft picks. Considering Weber himself was a 2nd round draft pick.

Yeah Marc, and Hugh Jessiman was a 1st.

Also we don't know that it is 4 firsts yet...... If the contract really is heavy on up front money (signing bonus) then the cap hit could be considerably lower meaning they only give 2 firsts, a second and a third.

Also tell me this beard isn't worth 4 x firsts

Losing Suter and Weber? Surely unthinkable to the Preds as they'd go from heroes to zeroes in double time. A top class d-man is the most important skater on any roster...

I can't see them not matching it. I am sure they were hoping to sign him up on a more sensible contract though!

As much as I don't like the 14 years, if he stays healthy I wouldn't be suprised to see him play that long. If the Preds match he's a pred for life. All the while he's in his prime they won't trade him and if he declines later in his career the cap hit will mean he would be unlikly to go to a contender. Webber may get rich out of this deal, but hes screwed the Preds with this offer sheet and if the Preds match that could be the end of his chances of winning a cup.

Im not convinved the league would allow this contract even with the current CBA.

Surely they need to take a long hard look at these extra lengthy and frontloaded contracts?

Jonzee wrote:Yeah Marc, and Hugh Jessiman was a 1st.

Indeed he was but nobody is that stupid ...... are they Mr Sather

They are utterly ridiculous. Saying that, they are somewhat legal under this current CBA, and something is done about it, something better get done about Parise/Suter/Crosby, too.

They need to do something to prevent them going forward, not sure what they can really do about existing ones as technically they have already been approved by the league so I can't see them punishing teams for them.

My problem isn't so much the length of the contracts, its the years tagged on the end for less money to bring down the cap hit that annoy me. I think you should get paid the same amount for each year of your contract. This would then curb contract length as no-one wants to pay a 40 year old d-man the same as a guy in their prime (lidstrom excluded and the stars excluded)

This is Shea madness....

http://www.downgoesbrown.com/2012/07/the-pros-and-cons-of-matching-shea.html

Preds just matched Weber's offer sheet.

They didn't really have any choice. Losing Suter is big but a core of Weber, Gill, Ellis, and Klien is fine plus the rookies Josi & Blum (if he resigns) and the Preds D is still solid with Pekka between the pipes. What I think will be most damaging for Nashville is the psychological impact.

Sad times.

Jonzee wrote:Sad times.

No.....Weber.....for.....YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Damn, if this had surfaced a few weeks ago, they might not have been able to match the offer