Shea Weber tests Nashville Predators' commitment

It will be interesting to see if the Nashville Predators match the Philadelphia Flyers ridiculously high offer sheet or not. Also from reading various blogs and news stories the last couple of days, it also doesn’t really sound like Weber wants to stay in Nashville anymore.

I think this is a situation where the big market teams can absolutely bury the smaller market teams like Nashville. While it’s true that the teams all have the same salary cap – not all things are equal – teams like New York, Chicago and Philly have an advantage that some teams don’t have – these are teams with established histories that other teams are not able to match. These glamorous teams have more to offer than other teams that in some cases have never won much of anything.

If you add to that equation a team like Philly -  who in this case is able to give a lot of upfront money – it’s going to be hard and expensive for Nashville to match that offer sheet. The Predators could chose not to match the Philly’s outrageous offer and take the four draft picks and improve their team.

Josh Cooper, Tennessean.com --- Nashville has until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday to match the Flyers’ offer, which, according to a source, is $110 million over 14 years.

It does not sound as if Weber wants to return to Nashville. His contract will be second only to the $124 million deal signed by Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.

“I don’t think you sign an offer sheet unless you’re pointing in that one direction,” Jarrett Bousquet, Weber’s agent, told AM-1050 in Toronto. “He would like to play with the Philadelphia Flyers because we all feel he’s just another piece in the puzzle to take them to the next level, and he doesn’t want to go through a rebuilding process again.”

The first four years of the contract include $52 million in signing bonuses, according to a source. It’s unknown whether the Predators will be able to match the offer.

If Nashville matches the offer, Weber must re-sign with the Predators.

If the Predators don’t, they will lose their second top player after All-Star Ryan Suter signed with Minnesota on July 4.

After reading this story from Philly.com - it appears that Shea Weber would like to be a member of the Philadelphia Flyers and really doesn’t have any intention of staying with the Predators. The offer that Weber signed is also lock-out proof.

This $110 million offer is lockout-proof, meaning that Weber will earn $26 million between now and next July 1 whether a single puck is dropped in the NHL. He is due $56 million in the first 4 years of the deal.