OK, So What I have heard this May 2012

[Jovorock]

Shea will resign with the Preds pretty soon, too bad I would love to get him in a Canuck jersey but he really likes it in Nashville.

[Timeless]

Problem is Nashville would match that immidiately.

The point is its a one year offer sheet. If Weber is willing to sign it then obviously he is planning to leave, and they would be unable to trade him for one year which is the exact amount of time before he reaches UFA. In this scenario it's a choice between getting 4 draft picks or having his services for exactly one year.

[Island Nucklehead]

Problem is Nashville would match that immidiately.

The point is its a one year offer sheet. If Weber is willing to sign it then obviously he is planning to leave, and they would be unable to trade him for one year which is the exact amount of time before he reaches UFA. In this scenario it's a choice between getting 4 draft picks or having his services for exactly one year.

The Canucks would be stupid to throw away 4-first round picks for one year of Weber.

Under this set-up, Nashville gets Weber for one year with nothing lost but money, they paid him 7.5M last season, the Cap is (probably) going up, so the increase salary is already covered. The Canucks would get Weber for one year, for 4 first round draft picks AND the money. Not worth it, imo.

[Vpete]

The way to get Shea is to offer signing bonus money. Give $20 mill up front- it gets applied to the cap but creates a huge cash flow problem for Nashville.

That's what the rich teams need to do.

[dbr]

The way to get Shea is to offer signing bonus money. Give $20 mill up front- it gets applied to the cap but creates a huge cash flow problem for Nashville.

That's what the rich teams need to do.

Yep, exactly. A front loaded deal with the most you can squeeze into the first two seasons, and the most of that as signing bonuses on 7/1/2012 and 7/1/2013.

A team could force the Predators to come up with $20+m in 366 days.

Just food for thought... as I've said previously the deals signed by Zdeno Chara and Brian Campbell relative to the salary cap ceiling in their first year work out to well over $10 - this team could easily afford a $10m defenseman:

FORWARDS
Daniel Sedin ($6.100m) / Henrik Sedin ($6.100m) / Alexandre Burrows ($2.000m)
David Booth ($4.250m) / Ryan Kesler ($5.000m) / Jannik Hansen ($1.350m)
Chris Higgins ($1.900m) / Manny Malhotra ($2.500m) / Zack Kassian ($0.870m)
Mason Raymond ($2.210m) / Maxim Lapierre ($1.000m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Alexander Edler ($3.250m) / Shea Weber ($10.000m)
Dan Hamhuis ($4.500m) / Kevin Bieksa ($4.600m)
Keith Ballard ($4.200m) / Chris Tanev ($0.900m)
Andrew Alberts ($1.225m) /
GOALTENDERS
Cory Schneider ($4.000m)
Eddie Lack ($0.750m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $70,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $66,705,000; BONUSES: $0
CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $3,595,000

I'm not saying I think it's going to happen - just showing that it's easily achievable (from a salary cap standpoint).

[Potatoe1]

Problem is Nashville would match that immidiately.

The point is its a one year offer sheet. If Weber is willing to sign it then obviously he is planning to leave, and they would be unable to trade him for one year which is the exact amount of time before he reaches UFA. In this scenario it's a choice between getting 4 draft picks or having his services for exactly one year.

The Canucks would be stupid to throw away 4-first round picks for one year of Weber.

Under this set-up, Nashville gets Weber for one year with nothing lost but money, they paid him 7.5M last season, the Cap is (probably) going up, so the increase salary is already covered. The Canucks would get Weber for one year, for 4 first round draft picks AND the money. Not worth it, imo.

The theory would be that the team making the 1 year offer would have a agreement in principle for an extension that would be signed as soon as the CBA would allow it.

Whats interesting about the Whole Weber situation is that once July 1st hits he can start talking to other GM's.

The Preds blocked him from that last year by filing for arbitration. This year however he basically gets to decide where he is going to play long term.

He can work out a deal with the team of his choosing, then let the Preds know his plan. The Preds can then force him to play for 1 more season or trade him to the team he has the agreement with.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Shea will resign with the Preds pretty soon, too bad I would love to get him in a Canuck jersey but he really likes it in Nashville.

Yeah he likes it so much that he has turned down multiple long term contract offers from the team over the past two summers.

Make no mistake, once Ryan Suter signs in Detroit or Philly, Shea will be telling Poile that he too wants out.

[Jovocop]

Shea will resign with the Preds pretty soon, too bad I would love to get him in a Canuck jersey but he really likes it in Nashville.

Yeah he likes it so much that he has turned down multiple long term contract offers from the team over the past two summers.

Make no mistake, once Ryan Suter signs in Detroit or Philly, Shea will be telling Poile that he too wants out.

Agreed, Weber will leave the Predators either this year or next. The Predators were taking their chance and made the run the last playoffs. They could not even beat an offensively challenged Coyotes. With Suter leaving this July, the Predators will not get any better this coming season. I just cannot see Weber signing a long term deal with them soon.

[Farhan Lalji]

Speaking of Nashville,

I think they could have and should have done a lot better this year. It's too bad that Radulov and Kostistyn turned out to be such massive douchebags and lockerroom distractions.

With the exception of the Boston Bruins, I think Nashville would have been the only other team in the NHL to have given the LA Kings a good run for their money, had Nashville had their act together.

Pitsburgh, with a semblance of good goaltending, also would have challenged the Kings.

[mpp]

Speaking of Nashville, I think they could have and should have done a lot better this year. It's too bad that Radulov and Kostistyn turned out to be such massive douchebags and lockerroom distractions.

I don't feel sorry for them. Kostitsyn's unprofessional behavior was less expected but they clearly knew Radulov was a headcase and still went for it.

I recall the lovely parable from "Natural Born Killers":

Once upon a time, a woman was picking up firewood. She came upon a poisonous snake frozen in the snow. She took the snake home and nursed it back to health. One day the snake bit her on the cheek. As she lay dying, she asked the snake, "Why have you done this to me?" And the snake answered, "Look, bitch, you knew I was a snake."

Oh well.

I don't feel sorry for them also because they chose a slightly better chance at Lord Stanley over dignity.

[Potatoe1]

Kostitsyn's unprofessional behavior was less expected

Kostitsyn has a horrible rep, they shouldn't have been surprised about him either.

[tantalum]

No doubt the Preds underachieved, but people on message boards questioned the acquisitions based on character. And hey they were right. The media played up how good friends Radulov was with Weber and Suter and so he'd fit in the room etc. Fact is they can be friends off the ice but not be on the same page on a professional level. Radulov came over to burn that final year of his deal off so he had no real strings attached to him and hey if he won a cup he might be able to make a bunch of cash and not have to ride in planes that crash. Of course he didn't perform and as a result he'll tuck tail and run back to Russia.

[Farhan Lalji]

Don't know how it was over in Vancouver, but 960 'The Fan' here in Alberta were REALLY riding Nashville's [mod edit] HARD.

When Radulov signed, 960 pretty much anointed these guys as Western Conference champs......with St. Louis and Vancouver possibly being the only team worth giving them a run for their money.

[Meds]

A bold move might be going after both Suter and Weber.

There, I jinxed it.

Detroit is probably the only team in the league that could afford to do that.

The Canucks could easily afford it - $15m in cap space right now and $22m if they move Edler and Ballard (a top four of Suter/Weber/Hamhuis/Bieksa is among the league's best)..

Among the league's best?

I would say that would BE the league's best.

Although, Suter has allegedly said no to Canada.

Subtracting Ballard or Edler, adding Weber, and retaining Salo as a depth dman on the 3rd pairing.....I'd say that would make for the best blueline crew in the league. Hamhuis/Weber, Edler or Ballard/Bieksa, Tanev/Salo. I can't think of another team that could touch that in terms of talent and experience.

[Strangelove]

It seems like Nashville cannot get Weber to re-sign, therefore they should trade him to the team he wants to spend the rest of his career with... and take what they can get. The only leverage they would have is keeping him for one more year by matching (obviously there will be a ONE-year offer-sheet).

Of course there's the option of just taking the comp-picks, but personally I'd rather have the one more year of Weber.

Must suck to have most of your players desperately scrambling to get out of town.

If you're that team that Weber wants to play for though, do you one-year offer-sheet him and give up the picks

... or wait one more year and get him as a UFA?