Does arbitration signal the premature end of the Shea Weber era?

For more than a year, both Shea Weber and David Poile have repeatedly assured Predators fans that both agreed Weber would captain the team into a future full of promise. It’s now clear both of them were more than a little disingenuous. A less charitable observer would conclude that they both lied repeatedly. The losers here are not Weber or the Predators but the fans. We’ve been played.

Perhaps a Freudian slip over your favorite OTFer.

I bet it’s like 6.375 . (Looks like the arbitrator put more thought into it as opposed to what 6 or 6.5 would look like)

if nothing good comes of this, does it usher in the “Poile’s Last Stand” era?

Other fan bases salivate when another team might loose a big time player? If every team had a 1 out of 29 chance to get him then it makes it more likely he would join your divisional opponents rather than your team (Unless the player is already in your division). I guess they all just think that their team will land the player.

You still have a chance to trade his year of service and RFA rights for a massive return. Philly did alright when they lost richards, Weber would command the same if not more. If the money ends up being 7mil, do you keep him or trade him? Im not completely knowledgeable on your finances.

that the arbitrator had to pick either the team’s number, or the player’s number. Am I wrong?

If I am wrong, and the arbitrator can pick any number, then I wouldn’t be surprised if the Preds actually did offer $4.7 and Weber offered $8.5 (as reported on twitter). These numbers are basically worthless if the arbitrator can choose his own number. There is no risk on either side by throwing out a ridiculous number. And $4.7 and $8.5 are both ridiculous numbers.

Mike Hamilton to handle the contract negotiations. This is crazy!!

#weberwatch is now also being referred to as #SHEAnanigans :P

but it’s still bad to be here right now. Hopefully something will be done.

prepare for the worst.

I see a lot of people saying “the problem is term or money”… but I want to add that it could be the structure of the deal on witch they disagree. We know the CBA is going to change next year, there’s talk about prolonging RFA, limiting signing bonuses, maybe even a salary reroll?
In that context, would it be crazy from Weber to want a front-loaded deal? Does Poile have the money? And if the cap goes back to 60M next year… team won’t be able to pay so much.
Witout either side beeing greedy, it’not difficult to see the many problems they are facing.

Weber wants 8 Mil… Preds offered 4.75 Mil. What a joke on both sides… Shea wants to be the highest paid, I understand that but 8 Mil is to high. The Preds only offered 4.75 Mil???? I bet that Dumb @$$ banner talking about “The Bold New Jerseys!” in Nashville cost at least half that. If that’s all the Preds offered then they really aren’t playing for a cup and are playing money ball (or puck). Shea deserves to be in highest paid bracket for D-Men and the Preds management know it! Well… Hope we win a cup this year because if not we will be talking about the team moving again in 2-3 years because we let our talent go.

What are the current contracts of Zdeno Chara and Nicklas Lidstrom, his fellow Norris trophy candidates?

And while we’re checking those out, how about contracts of other elite defensemen?

This may just be a conspiracy by the NHL and Toronto of getting their superstar Canadian back in Canada by nominating him for the Norris and driving his price up. I bet his new agent jumped all over that.

Weber asked for a 1yr 8.5 mil contract

Poile offered 4 yrs at 4.75

and Poile was negotitating that price with me all along, I would have got up, put my gear on, and fired my boomer at the Poile cardboard cutout until it looked like Swiss cheese…

Lidstrom $6.2m 2012 and cap hit
Chara $8.5m 2012 cap hit $6.9m
Keith $8m 2012 with $5.5 cap hit

If Weber is asking for $8.5m, that seems like the high end of his category, but not outrageous. Of course the team is low-balling in arbitration and Weber is um … high balling? They know the arbitrator will come down between the two positions.

God, quit spazzing. This is how arbitration works: the player makes a case for the maximum value. The team makes a case for the minimum value. The arbiter decides on where in the middle the true value is, and it’ll probably be $6.5-7mil.

If this is really the case, then the above is the only believable explanation. Because there is no way Weber could believe he was getting $8.5 mill and there is no way David Poile could believe they could sign him for $4.75 mill.

Its like dealing with a car salesman… Except with a non bias third party deciding how much you pay. He lists an outrageous price and you low ball him and eventually (if you really want to buy the car, and he really wants to sell the car) the deal is made.

I have to believe things were different in earlier negotiations. I have more faith in the intelligence of both parties. Now we just have to hope, that like you and the car salesman, nobody takes anything personal once the deal is made….

Absolutely love the Preds, season ticket holder, have all the bells, whistles, jerseys, hats, etc……That said, we can’t just blindly support Weber at a cost of everything else. If it turns out we have offered 7 years at 7mil per year, and he says no, then it is time to move on and get something ( a lot) for him. Remember, we have to sign Peks and Suter next year…..and Hornqvist, Tootoo, Koistitsyn, Blum, Lindback, and Crazy Kyle too! ( among others) Every year we have to sign someone. You can’t spend 20% of your budget on one player.
What could we get for Weber? Go through a list of players in the NHL now who would take for Weber now, and I’m sure you could come up with a dozen easy. We do have defensemen in the system that could step up now. I know they are not Weber yet, but where will they be in a year or two? We keep drafting defensemen every year, eventually they will play in the NHL.
If Weber wants to play for a winner, and wants to take his talents somewhere else, we might as well get a goal scorer back for him. Weber is from Vancouver, they want him, he goes back there every chance he gets. And Detroit is already positioning themselves to make a run at him next season. They would love to have Weber take over for a retiring Lindstrom.
Trade him to the Islanders or Panthers, that would teach him a lesson. When you put a ‘C’ on someone, it should mean something. Obviously it didn’t mean anything to him. this is like begging a girlfriend or boyfriend to stay with you when they don’t want to. It’s never going to end well. No one will be happy, and from what I am seeing is that more than half the fans are not on Weber’s side right now. If he makes it to the Meet the Preds event, it will be interesting to see what kind of reception he gets.