Early this morning (or late last night) The new broke that Philadelphia Flyers extended restricted free agent defenseman Shea Weber a staggering 14 year, $110 million contract. The move means that his current team, the Nashville Predators, have 7 days to match it.
President & GM David Poile released the following statement just minutes ago in response to the Flyers offer.
"We are in receipt of the offer sheet signed between the Philadelphia Flyers and Shea Weber. Under the rules pertaining to an offer sheet, the Predators have one week to decide whether to match or accept the compensation. We have stated previously that, should a team enter into an offer sheet with Shea, our intention would be to match and retain Shea. Our ownership has provided us with the necessary resources to build a Stanley Cup-winning team. Due to the complexity of the offer sheet, we will take the appropriate time to review and evaluate it and all of its ramifications in order to make the best decision for the Predators in both the short and long-term.
"We do not anticipate any further comments on this situation until we make our decision within the next seven days."
Obviously there’s nothing really firm either way there. Previously, Poile has indicated that the team would match any offer sheet to Weber. While that may ultimately be the case, clearly the massive offer from the Flyers has the team having at least a few second thoughts.