Was David Poile Smart in Matching Shea Weber's Offer Sheet?

Travis: When Shea Weber signed a 14 year, 110 million dollar offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers last week, the attention immediately turned to Predator's GM David Poile. Poile had 7 days to match the offer sheet and this afternoon he did just that.

On one hand, matching the offer sheet ensures that Shea Weber will be sticking around Nashville for at least another season. Nashville also proves they are willing to stay competitive and not bow down to the bigger market teams like Philadelphia. Most importantly, they will retain most of their fan support from last years playoff run, many of whom would probably fade away if Nashville would have lost both Weber and Ryan Suter.

On the other hand, Poile is committing a lot of money to Weber, one of the NHLs best defenceman. The contract is very front loaded with Weber due to make a lot of money next season which Nashville is now locked into paying seeing as they now cannot trade Weber for a whole season.

I believe that David Poile had little choice but to match Weber's offer sheet because 14 years of Weber will most likely be more valuable than 4 Flyer late first round picks (I say late because with Weber there is little chance the Flyers miss the playoffs). If Nashville had of successfully resigned Ryan Suter then I would have been willing to let Weber walk, but since Suter has signed with Minnesota, Poile needed to keep Weber or risk losing the momentum Nashville has proudly built up until this point.

Patrick: While Nashville had to overpay to keep both Pekka Rinne and Shea Weber, they needed to keep both to stay relevant and retain fan support. Seeing Kevin Klein logging 25 minutes every night wouldn't have been pretty.

Philly obviously feels they need another top line defenceman so I wouldn't be surprised if they went after Dan Boyle. San Jose could use a shake-up, and Philadelphia are stacked with forwards.

Poile was in my bad books last week after he allowed Weber to sign the offer sheet, but he's back in my good books after re-signing the top dman in the game.

The Shea Weber Fiasco

Travis: As most hockey fans that are not up at their cottage without access to internet or tv know, Shea Weber signed a massive 14 yr 110 million dollar offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Nashville has a week to match or else they receive the restricted free agent compensation, in this case it would be four first rounds picks. The problem for Nashville General Manager David Poile is the deal is front loaded, Weber will earn $27 million dollars in the first year of the contract, which can be tough to pay out for a small market team like the Predators.

On top of all this, if Nashville were to match, they would be unable to trade Weber during the first season, so they would be committing to paying Weber's first year salary if they match.

There is no denying that Poile and Nashville are in a bit of a predicament. Either let your best player walk, or pay crazy money in a front loaded deal to keep him for at least a year.

A lot of fans have questioned the integrity of Flyers GM Paul Holmgren for signing Weber to the almost taboo offer sheet but is he really at fault? The offer sheet is perfectly legal and it is not Holmgren's fault that the Flyers have a lot more capital than the Predators.


Patrick: Alright I don't know about you Travis, but I'm Team Holmgren on this on this one. Poille saw Suter sign with Minnesota two weeks before this offer sheet was put out.

I'd consider Weber the best defenceman in the game right now so it doesn't make sense why Nashville didn't get him signed immediately after Suter left for the Wild.

While signing rfa's to offer sheets is often frowned upon, Poille shouldn't have waited until mid-July to sign the best player at his position.



Travis: It's obvious Polie tried to sign Weber but if it was clear that he or Suter wouldn't be resigning why not trade one of them at the deadline? I know they were making a playoff push but it was a risky move that isn't panning out. It looks like Poile put all his eggs in one basket and his eggs got sPoiled (hehe).


Patrick: Sure he probably tried to sign Weber but it was a rather weak attempt. He is a franchise player so the dollar amount shouldn't be that big of a concern. They should've given him whatever they needed to get the deal done. You don't hurt yourself when you overpay for great players. You hurt yourself when you overpay for average players like Dennis Wideman. You won't hear people complain about Stamko's contract because no one will say he's not a great player.