Anyone ever been to a prospect camp? I’m thinking about stopping by the Blackhawks camp this week.
Anyone surprised, at this point, that the Coyotes situation STILL has not been resolved?
So The excitment of the free agent feeding frenzy is fading(and was anything but exciting for the Wings anyway).
and The shitty mart begins.
My optimistic side thinks that both sides must have the missed-season disaster in the front of their minds, and cannot possibly fuck it up that bad again.
My pessimistic side wonders if the owners proved their point last time that they do have the bigger penis, and may think they can stick it it to the players. And they players know they lost badly last time and may try to save some face.
Going forward, I better NEVER hear the Flyers complaining if some team signs a UFA to an offer sheet.
I do NOT want Weber in a Flyers uniform. Blech.
Fourteen years. My nephew will be almost ready to start driving. Unbelievable. One injury, one severe illness, and that is one hell of an albatross around that team’s neck (to go with a few others…). I’d like to see these cap-circumventing contracts curtailed, maybe a maximum of 8 years or something.
With all due respect and no offense intended, balls to that.
I’ve already seen a salary cap put into place to protect owners from their own stupidity (everyone wave to the NY Rangers). I’ll be damned if I’ll lose out on schadenfreude caused by 10+ year contracts with stupid money and/or a no movement clause (everyone wave to the NY Islanders and Rick DiPietro).
OK, you’re kind of right…it is rather hilarious.
And speaking of hilariously stupid long term contracts…
The offer is a relatively modest contract reportedly for over $100 million for 14 years! As Weber is an RFA, Philly would owe Nashville four first round draft picks if Nashville doesn’t match the offer. Philly would give up fourteen years, $100 million, and four first round picks for one player.
Part of me wants to think that these insane contracts being offered one year before the expiration of the CBA is some bizarre ploy by the owners to make more demands because they’re clearly too insane to be allowed to handle money and thus must be protected from the players and themselves. The intelligent part of me knows that it isn’t a ploy, and that the owners really are too insane to be allowed to handle money.
Honestly, Weber is a good defenseman. I just don’t see him being worth this kind of money. He’s not Crosby. He’s not Ovechkin. He’s not Malkin or Datsyuk. Even in terms of his position. He’s not a Lidstrom. Not a Bourque. Probably not even a Pronger. I would rather see the Wings go another decade without a cup than see them become so stupid as to attempt to match these sorts of contracts.
And I hope that the Preds don’t try to match this offer. Losing Suter and Weber in one off season will suck, but not as much as pinning a hefty chunk of your future on one dude. Take the picks and the savings and use it for the next CBA.
Don’t wave too hard – if you create a breeze, he might fall over and hurt himself.
Nash finally gets out of Columbus and is heading to New York.
Nashville wisely matched Philthy’s offer sheet on Weber. Interesting recent spat of activity between that and the Rangers trading away a good portion of their depth and best defensive forwards for Rick Nash.
With the pool of free agent defensemen all dried up I have to wonder what the two Pennsylvania teams are going to do to shore up their defenses, because it’s hard to imagine they’re happy with what they’re poised to put out on opening night as they stand now.
If you’re implying that this was a good trade for the Blue Jackets, you’d be the first I’ve heard say so. They’ve been getting hammered by the local media for settling for pennies on the dollar from NY.
I disagree. There’s been a bit of talk that Weber wanted out of Nashville which is why he signed the offer. That would mean that Nashville is paying a ton of money to a player who doesn’t want to be there on a front loaded long term contract that will be nearly impossible to trade away for up to five years if not more. Plus they’re overpaying. A lot. A whole lot. Overpaying for one guy who won’t win them a cup and may have a worse season without his partner Suter.
That and in a year when the CBA expires, they may have been able to use the money saved to sign free agents to better deals and still have the four first round draft picks to get some youth into their system.
It is a good trade. Not a great trade, but a good trade, which is about all one can hope for when everyone knows the player wants out and he has a full No Movement Clause he can use to block trades he doesn’t like. After hearing some of the names Howson was after in return for Nash it seems like settling, and it was to a degree but only because he simply wasn’t going to be getting a package that included stars-in-the-making like Ryan McDonaugh or Jeff Skinner like he reportedly wanted. Ultimately he got what he publicly stated he wanted: two NHL ready top 6 forwards and some help on defense.
The general perception on the deal is that Columbus got some spare parts for Nash but Dubinsky and Anisimov are underrated two-way forwards and Erixson is a highly ranked defensive prospect.
The side of this story no one is mentioning is the damage NY did to itself in this trade, which, as a Devils fan I find delicious. As that article mentions, between losing Prust to FA and then trading Dubinsky and Anisimov, they lost 3 of their top 4 defensively responsible forwards who took on the tough assignments. They’ve still got some cap space, but the FA market is pretty tapped out so it would require some more trades to acquire guys who can handle starting in the defensive zone so the likes of Brad Richards and Gaborik and now Nash can enjoy all those offensive zone starts they need to be successful.
There’s also been quotes by him saying that he wanted to stay, so no one really knows what’s going on in his head. What we can know though is that he knew when he signed the offer sheet on a 14 year deal there was every chance that Nashville would match it and he’d be a Predator life. I think if he really wanted out he’d have held out for a one year deal, gone to arbitration if he couldn’t get it, and then fled as a UFA next year.
I agree that it’s a bit of an overpayment, but it was still necessary that they match it. Philthy put them in a tight spot with the cap-circumventing structure of the contract, but Nashville had to keep him–it would have been devastating to the team itself in terms of performance, and a huge blow to its public relations to lose their two best defensemen in the same off-season after taking big strides the past few years and garnering much needed local support.
Weber is an elite shut-down defenseman and was the stronger part of the Weber-Suter tandem. He’ll be fine without Suter… I think Minnesota is going to be the one with buyer’s remorse when they see Suter without Weber.
As to trading it, you’re absolutely right. It’s not going anywhere for at least 6 years because between the salary (14, 14, 14, 14, 12, 12) and the signing bonuses (13, 13, 13 ,13, 8, 8), no one will touch it. After that though, if needed (nothing saying he won’t still be effective in 6 years-he’d be 32 and d-men tend to have longer peaks to their careers), they could probably move it to a team like the Islanders who’d benefit from the higher cap hit helping them get to the cap floor while costing them less actual cash.
This is the biggest problem. If there’s a lockout they’re on the hook for a lot of money in one calendar year where there’s no income coming in, so they’re either confident they can absorb the hit if necessary or are gambling that there won’t be a lockout.
As to saving the money, yeah it would free up a lot of cash but who do you spend it on? They’re an offensively starved team as it is that’s relied on its strong defense and outstanding goal tending to succeed. If they were to lose both Suter and Weber in the same summer, the list of UFAs out there is remarkably thin and they’re suddenly in need of completely overhauling both their O and D.
And the promise of four first rounders is tempting, but since they’d be from the Flyers they’d all likely be late first rounders which are not nearly as valuable or likely to return a high-end talent. Statistically, an elite talent like Weber in the hand is worth far more than four late first round picks.
Nashville may be a step back without Suter, but with the same forwards as last season, and Peka Rinne playing well in nets, they’re still going to be a playoff team.
I’d be more worried about Detroit taking a step back this year, TBH…
Not worried about it at all. I’m fully expecting it. They’d be taking a step back even if they signed Suter. Losing Lidstrom and Stuart is a big hit, but it happens. You don’t lose a player like Lidstrom and keep on chugging.
I think Detroit can still make the playoffs but may not. If they do, they could possibly win a cup but probably won’t. They may even have to give up a bit more than they’d like shopping for trades this year depending on the start they have. I’d still rather have that then have them spending a ton of cash just so they can sign somebody.
Tim Thomas is interjecting himself into the Chik Fil A controversy over same sex marriage.
Really, Tim?
You’re taking a year off from hockey just to make right wing political statements?
I’m wondering if he’s seriously thinking of getting into politics?
He really seems to overestimate the general public opinion of athletes.