The Nashville Predators have announced that they have matched the offer sheet signed between the Philadelphia Flyers and defenseman Shea Weber.
The official statement:
“In the most important hockey transaction in franchise history, Nashville Predators Chairman Tom Cigarran, President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile and CEO Jeff Cogen announced today that the team has matched the 14-year, $110 million offer sheet between the Philadelphia Flyers and defenseman Shea Weber, insuring that the Predators’ captain will remain with the franchise for the next 14 years.
The decision to enter into the largest contract in franchise history was made by all parts of the organization, including ownership, hockey operations and business operations.
The most interesting item from the statement was this gem: “Would a decision not to match the offer sheet send a negative message to current Predators players and other NHL organizations, a message that the Predators would only go so far to protect its best players and be pushed around by teams with ‘deep pockets?’ The answer… is clearly ‘yes.’ ”
It was fun while it lasted. It remains to be seen how Predators fans will react to their lifetime captain trying to jump ship as his agents told the media, “You don’t sign an offer sheet unless you want to go there.” With Weber officially out of the mix, attention for the Flyers will turn to Bobby Ryan and Shane Doan.
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Nothing else to say except that that sucks.
Not surprising news that Predators match this Offer, they really had no choice
I just wonder if the Flyers would have been better off trading with Columbus to get Winger Rick Nash who the Rangers appeared to have gotten without givingup much in return.. Rangers are now the Team to beat in the East
Absolutely brutal turn of events. Very shocking too in years past flyers always got their guy, 0-3 this year.
A non story…This guy will not make a difference and will be grossly overpaid.
Time for American sports fans to ‘Just say no’ to overpriced tickets and athletes.
I concur. It’s a sport for crying out loud. These guys aren’t risking their lives to save others. They should hold full time jobs and do this as a hobby like the rest of us.
This could backfire on the Preds. Clearly they had to go to extremes to match, and as per their statement, they did this more for self-pride, maintaining face after losing Suter, and spiting the Flyers. Any other team in the league could have cared less if the Preds “stood up” to the big boys, so to speak. They could have parlayed those 4 Flyer first rd pics plus their own higher pics to become very active in FAgency at end of next season or setting up trades to build that club quickly as a contender. Now everyone knows the captain clearly wanted out of Opryland.
At any rate, it could be blessing in disguise for the Flyers, but they will need a very solid Dman to make a deeper run in the playoffs. I’d like to see Ryan here in meantime.