So the Nashville Predators took the plunge and matched the Flyers 14-year, $110 million offer sheet to defenseman Shea Weber. Now Weber will remain a member of the Preds for the foreseeable future.
While the front-loaded offer sheet was designed to make it difficult for the Preds to match, GM David Poile went ahead and kept Weber in Nashville.
When all was said and done, Poile did what he had to do. The Predators had three core players who were the keys to their team: goalie Pekka Rinne and a pair of defensemen in Weber and Ryan Suter. Despite the cost, Poile kept two of his three best players and has enough young talent to make up for the loss of the third.
Rinne and Weber are now staying in Nashville, while Suter has moved on after signing a big free-agent deal with the Minnesota Wild.
For years, the Predators have lost many of their best players whenever they became eligible for free agency. Somehow, Poile and coach Barry Trotz managed to keep the Predators in the thick of the highly competitive Western Conference, making the playoffs seven of the last eight seasons.
The Preds remained competitive but only to a point; they a ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Brad Kurtzberg
NHL: Predators Match Flyers’ Offer for Shea Weber: Why It Was the Right Move
July 24th, 2012 by Brad Kurtzberg Leave a reply »
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