In the wake of the Flyers' shocking offer to restricted free agent defenseman Shea Weber, we heard from the Predators. We heard very briefly from the Flyers... but we hadn't heard from Weber himself. We probably never will, at least until this situation is resolved, but we did get a pretty clear indication of his thinking via his agent Jarrett Bousque. He spoke with the Philadelphia Daily News and said that Weber wants to join the Flyers and is attracted by their rich history and desire to win.
"It turns out, there was no real hard sell [on Weber]," Bousquet said. "There are a lot of great teams and organizations out there, in great cities. But when you put everything on the table, the Flyers were the best fit in nearly every category. Philly followed with the offer. In the end, it was too good to pass up."
The Daily News says that Weber spent 3 days in Philadelphia touring the city, the team facilities and being wined and dine by team chairman Ed Snider. One could certainly see how after meeting with Snider, who has been willing to spend whatever it takes, that Weber was impressed with the Flyers' ambition.
His agent implied that Weber may have take the teams' inability to keep his defense partner, Ryan Suter, as an indication that they do have the same drive (or money) as Philadelphia.
"We decided that we weren't going to pursue teams, we waited for them to contact us," Bousquet said. "They did that almost immediately. Once July 5 hit and Ryan [Suter] signed in Minnesota, that's when we thought it was important to consider all of our options."
However he feels, Weber really has no options let. He signed a deal structured to make it very difficult for his current team to match, but the fact remains that they do have the right to match. If they do, Weber will be committed to Nashville for the next 14 years.
