Shea Weber a Flyer?

To me the most interesting thing to happen in the NHL this summer for the second year in a row was a move made by our divisional rival the Philadelphia Flyers.  If you recall, last summer the Flyers shocked the hockey world by moving their captain Mike Richards along with Jeff Carter out of Philadephia in  two different deals, getting back Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, and a pick that became shutdown center Sean Couterier.  Although the end result was that Carter and Richards wound up reunited after LA acquired Carter from Columbus for Jack Johnson, AND won the Stanley Cup together, it was still a good mvoe for the Flyers who wanted to change their identity.  They did so and added a very deep and balanced forward attack with all four of the players they got in return contributing mightily to the Flyers season.   This summer GM Paul Holmgren and owner Ed Snider got bored and decided that they were going to do something not done very often, and make a huge offer to RFA and two time Norris trophy runner up Shea Weber to the tune of 110M over 14 years.  Weber is in my opinion the best all around defenseman in the league. He has size at about 6"4" and 230 lbs, he can score adding 19 goals and 49 assists while playing to a plus 21 and leading Nashville in hits and blocked shots!  The Flyers also put pressure on small market Nashville by structuring the deal in such a way that it is very front loaded with 26M due to Weber in the first year.  The move puts Nashville in a tough spot as they already lost another cornerstone player and lifelong Predator when Ryan Suter decided to join friend Zach Parise in Minnesota. GM Poile is in a bind, as losing Weber and Suter in the same year, along with fan favorite Jordin Tootoo who signed with Detroit could render the Predators an irrelevant franchise  in the short term, after many years of being in the playoff hunt.  The Flyers delivered an intelligent, but tough predicament for Nashville in that if Nashville matches the offer, Weber is a Predator for 14 years or they could trade him AFTER one full season with the team and likely net a big return.   The issue is that Nashville cannot afford to take a blow like that right now after losing Suter, but the small market team also will struggle to afford the front loaded nature of the deal given to Weber.  In return, the Flyers would have to surrender their next four first round draft choices, which will likely be VERY low picks given the quality of the Flyers team. What makes this more intersting though is the Flyers predicament.  They can afford the cash flow aspect of the Weber deal, but his 7.8M cap hit would put the Flyers at the cap limit, with several players from last year unsigned including UFA defenseman Pavel Kubina, RFA defenseman Marc Bourdon, UFA forward Blair Betts, and RFA forwards Jakub Voracek and Tom Sestito.  All are decent players, but Voracek who provided 18 goals and 49 points, as well as a big bodied presence would be a key ingredient for the Flyers to lose, since they already lost Jagr to free agency, and JVR in the trade for Luke Schenn.  Blair Betts is a quality bottom 6 player as well. To complicate matters more for the Flyers, next season Scott Hartnell is a UFA, as is Kimo Timonen, two key components to this Flyers team, and Wayne Simmonds, another big factor, is RFA.  These facts mean that there is still reason for the Flyers and Nashville to possibly work a trade, that could benefit both teams.

The Flyers issues are that Nashville can end this all by matching the offer, and that they have no cap space left to sign other key pieces of their team as the deal stands.  They would have to make other deals involving good players for picks and prospects to round out their roster, and they would lose Voracek, among others, while having no space for next year's key free agents named above.   Also, Nashville who is angered by the move, COULD match the offer, retain Weber for one year, and then either keep him or trade him for a king's ransom most likely.  From Nashville's perspective, losing Weber for 4 late first round picks would be a crushing blow to their credibility, but eating that front loaded contract would deliver a crushing blow to their bottom line.  So what do both teams do?  Well, I am hearing that they are discussing a secondary trade to benefit both teams should Nashville elect not to match the offer.  I am hearing through Hockeyy Insiderr  that the Predators are asking that the Flyers send both Brayden and Luke Schenn to Nashville in return for two of the four first round picks the Predators would get in this transacton.  Brayden Schenn scored 12 goals for the Flyers last season, but is projected to be an impact player who plays with the type of "jam" favored in Philadelphia.  His brother at 6'2" and 220 lbs is a big physical defenseman who can make life miserable for the opposition in front of the net, but who fell out of favor in Toronto and came to the Flyers in return for JVR.   Brayden Schenn is signed for two years at 3.1M and Luke Schenn is signed for four years at 3.6M.  This move would give Nashville back two young players with big time potential and NHL experience to go with two first round picks in losing Weber AND save them long term contract money AND the front loaded 26M in the first year.  The Flyers would have 6.7M in cap space to use on their other players that need to be signed.  I heard that the Flyers do not want to do this and have countered by offering forwards Matt Read and Jakub Voracek (RFA), along with defenseman Andrej Meszaros for two of the four first round picks.  Nashville GM David Poile supposedly denied this deal.  I personally would take this deal if I were Nashville if it is indeed being offered.  RW Matt Read is signed for two more years at an excellent number of 900K, and last year delivered 24 goals, 47 points and played to a plus 13.  He alone replaces all of the lost goals and most of the points lost in the Weber move.  Voracek is a big player at 6'2" and 216 lbs, and the RW delivered 18 goals and 49 assists while playing to a plus 11.  Both players play a gritty game, and combined nearly double the lost points from Weber's departure.  The issue with Voracek is that he is unsigned, and after making 2.25M last year is probably going to cost 4M or so to sign, but the Predators have the room, and would only have 5M into both players and again no front loading.  Add in the 6'2" Andrej Meszsaros on the blue line, and though he won't replace the type of player Weber was, he added 7 goals and 25 total points while playing to a plus 6, and being physical. Meszaros costs 4M per year and is signed for two more years, so Nashville who is 15M under the cap FLOOR and 30M under the cap will spend roughly 9M this year on three players v the 7.8M cap hit, but the huge bonus due to Weber would be saved.   If you are Nashville it hurts to lose a Norris caliber player who was one of the two faces of your franchise, and contributed in every way including 19 goals and 49 points, but you pick up three quality NHL players who added 49 goals and 121 points last season PLUS two first round picks in the process.  Philadelphia gets about 5M in cap relief BEFORE the roughly 4M it would take to sign Voracek and they not only get Weber but they get two first round picks back as well.  Given the situation created by the offer sheet signing, this would seem to be  win-win for both franchises, and Nashville though losing another key player, would actually improve a great deal up front, and Meszaros would be a decent start to rebuilding the blue line. This deal can do nothing to fix the hole left by Suter's departure, but if true, the three players named above and the two first round picks could position Nashville to be a better more balanced team, while the Flyers would still boast the best blue line in the NHL, a quality group of forwards and some cap space created by this trade and the LTIR relief on Pronger's deal to address the holes in the forward group.  The Predators would be left with a lot of cap space to address the hole in their blue line and some new assets to use if a trade would do that for them.  Maybe Poile would team up with the Penguins and deal Voracek to Pittsburgh for Paul Martin, giving both teams something they need?  If the above rumor is true, it will be an interesting three days for NHL fans to see what unfolds here.