The Philadelphia Flyers would do well not to get started making up a jersey for Shea Weber.
With a little less than a day and a half left before Nashville's deadline to match the offer sheet their captain signed last week with Philadelphia, Flyers beat writer Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that there have been no trade talks between Philadelphia general manager Paul Holmgren and Predators GM David Poile. That's a strong indicator that the Predators are planning to match Philadelphia's offer and keep Weber in Nashville for at least one more year.
On Monday, SWR opined that the Predators can't afford to let Weber go for nothing more than four first-round draft picks, and that's just as much the case one day later. In a best-case scenario, Nashville uses those draft picks wisely and has more desirable free agents to lose when they turn 27 (or whatever the age for unrestricted free agency is under the new collective bargaining agreement). That's the best case scenario.
Prevailing wisdom dictates that the Predators will only decline to match the offer sheet if they can negotiate a trade with the Flyers and acquire players and/or prospects for those first-round picks. According to Carchidi (who cites two sources with knowledge of the situation), that trade isn't happening. Thus, the smart money is on Weber staying in Nashville.
Under the circumstances, Poile has two choices. He can either do what he can to get the best that the Flyers are willing to give him, or he can keep Weber for one more year (albeit at a salary that the Predators aren't comfortable with) and open up the bidding on next summer's trade market. It shouldn't really be surprising that Poile, who's been smart enough to build a formidable franchise in Nashville, is smart enough to keep his options open.
Of course, it must be said that anything is possible, and Weber could still come out of this whole mess as a newly-minted Philadelphia Flyer, but that isn't exactly looking like a strong possibility right about now.
