King Knut

This proposal is a disaster for the Flyers organization. For instance: Say Mike Richards or Jeff Carter get hurt and retire due to concussions or something before their contracts are up, we have to pay for them AND it counts against the cap, even though the Kings traded for both with the intention of taking responsibility for their contracts. THAT IS INSANE. You can't change the rules retroactively like that. It's not even legal let alone fair. Also the cap goes down significantly and there is quite possibly no more LTIR for someone like Pronger who is hurt but over 35 so we'll have to pay for him as though he's playing too. Sound fair? Or how about this? Minor leaguers who make too much money also count against the cap. MINOR LEAGUERS. So with a player like Schenn last year who clearly wasn't a minor leaguer but just wasn't ready to play in the pros for a month or so... He counts against the cap (admitedly though I don't know if it's his minor league salary or his NHL salary that counts). It also applies to older players (like Leighton) who clearly aren't good enough to be on NHL teams except in cases of absolute emergency... Does that sound fair? Leighton wasn't a phantom because we didn't want to pay for him, he was a phantom because he wasn't good enough to be a Flyer. oH and by the way, you and I with our tickets will be paying for even more of the Predators contract that kept Shea Weber from playing here now. Does that seem fair? This whole thing is absolutel garbage and I'm sick of it. I friggin' HATE the NHL and I friggin' HATE gary bettman. He is pond scum for making me pay another team to sign the players I want to see in Black and Orange. I'm not the one who told him to allow even more franchises. The owners are turning larger and larger profits yet he has run this league into the ground.

To Let Bettman and the league know that this is simply not okay. They can't keep doing this and expect the relationship with the fans to weather the storm. Why do I put the blame on them? BECAUSE THEY'RE THE ONES LOCKING OUT THE PLAYERS. They're the ones who wanted expansion into cities that couldn't support it. They're the ones that insisted on the salary cap as a result. They're the ones who want to lower that cap this year after raising it several years in a row. They're the ones who want to make all these changes to the CBA limiting earnings for young players and making it harder for borderline players. Losing NHL games should be an apocalypse to be avoided at all cost. So yeah. I blame them. Anyone who doesn't is just equivocating. So what do we do? Is there a thing? Anything going on to tell the league this is simply unacceptable?

I think Dineen took it as a temporary fix. He knew he wasn't a long term captain and the team wasn't doing well with him in the seat. Think about it, why didn't they give it to Rod or Rex? They Knew Eric was going to be captain, but couldn't see giving it to him that early... but giving it to one of those guys would have been smarter long term, but they weren't interested in a long term captain. Probably the same with Smith to be honest. I think they knew they were giving to to Richie in the not to distant future. Speaking of Richards, I will say that he's an indication of my theory on the captain's curse. We think there's one and he's a reason why we do, but think about it... how much of a failure was he as a captain? People wanted him run out of town on a rail, but seriously... His teams did fairly well (aside from having to play the penguins in the first round in 2009). Every team that ousted the Flyers under Richards went on to win the cup. How's that make him a bad leader and a failure? Most teams would kill for that level of success. Which brings me to my point: The curse is in our expectations far more than in their performances. Part of it stems from Clarke's success and part of it stems from the expectations that Lindros would be the next Gretzky (in some ways he was, he changed the game forever apparently). But in regards to winning and what makes a good captain, many of the captains on that list have been successful. If the curse is in their early dismissal, then I think the curse comes from flawed expectations and misdirected blame for failures. For example, it certainly wasn't Hatcher or Smith's or Pronger's fault the team didn't win cups under them. Though it may have been management's fault for suggesting that defenseman over 35 with a history of performance drop off due to injury late in the season (and the playoffs) should be the guy to handle the mantle of that leadership.

The problem is that LTIR and the over 35 thing really handcuff the team when it comes to LTIR and Waivers and a few other things that have made it difficult in the past. From a certain standpoint, yes, I agree it does make more sense to unbuckle yourself from Bryz, but the only problem I have then is that they'd still need a goalie. Would you resign him under a new shorter contract so he gets paid double for the duration of that contract? Would that even be permitted? If not what would you do in net? Signing Bryz was Homer's biggest oopsie moment thus far. Well that and trading Richards probably didn't need to happen. Not that Bryz was a bad idea and not that I don't like Schenn and Wayne. I had hoped that Homer (and who knows, maybe he tried and Lombardini wasn't having any) would go for Quick last year. Short contract, affordable. RFA in few years and at that point, Quick was still thought of as a "could be" guy, not a sure fire Conn Smythe candidate Cup Winning goalie. So In Essence, I'd rather have traded Richards for Quick and saved $12-$15 per year or so that I might have used elsewhere than essentially trading him for Bryz, Schenn and Simmonds and losing money on the deal. But anyway, moot point. Maybe Quick was the Kings 100% non negotiable no can do guy. Ultimately, my point remains the same. If anyone else gets hurt, we're in Waiver issue land and could end up losing quality players or eating a good portion of salary anyway. But then again Bryz is here until the end of time and like an idiot, Homer gave him a NMC so Bryz decides how long Bryz stays in Philly and let's face it... he's a lunatic and shouldn't be in charge of deciding anything.

I similarly an galled by the revenue sharing. It just doesn't seem right. In one sense, I get it, because The Salary Cap basically limits what every team can spend and without revenue sharing (and to a large extent even with it) teams like the Flyers would simply make astronomical amounts of money more than teams like the Blue Jackets, but because they wouldn't be allowed to spend any more than the Blue Jackets on players and personnel it would all be sheer profit in the pockets of the owners -unless they decided to lower their ticket prices to reflect how much more money they're making than their competitors which has a snow ball in hell fat chance of happening. But quite frankly, I didn't ask for all these NHL teams. And quite frankly, if they can't get the butts in the seats it takes to sustain a team, then maybe they shouldn't have a team. I think the Cap is a fair idea. Though I think it could be a little higher to stop handcuffing profitable teams. Revenue sharing makes sense, but only if you're sympathetic to the Blue Jackets, Panthers and other teams that can't quite keep their heads above water. I'll never forget when the Flyers tried to explain why the NHL forced them to pay the Wild to sign Kim Johnson away from us. We weren't allowed to pay Kim what he wanted, but because of profit sharing, we technically paid for part of his new salary in MN. Just seems wrong.

Anaheim needs Sbisa right now. Their defense isn't the deepest I've seen. Though I'd love to get him because it seems like he's finally recovering from what his Juniors coach did to him after we didn't keep him with the big club that year and he'll be on a smaller salary for a few more years. Ryan on the other hand... they'll either be looking to unload him next off season if they plan on keeping Getz and Perry or they'll be clinging to him for dear life if they can't keep those two. either way I don't see them unloading him between now and whenever those two deals are settled. I like where your head's at because Anaheim is going to be desperate for younger talent up front. Perry and Getz UFAs next year as are the much older and less productive Selanne (how many times has he reitred?) and Koivu

2 years? I'd do it if they'd take picks. But they want cooter and Schenn just like everyone else. So that's a big fat no

Am I te only one not feeling terribly bleak about this year? I think another forward or d man would be nice, even preferred. But Grossman and Schenn ain't nothing. Homer screwed the pooch on jags by trying for surges and zack... And he somehow tricked the press into rhino g their franchise. But what's wrong with the ten that's left? How are they any worse than last year's team without Pronger? We're short a Mezo and Jagr. Are you all just anticipating sophomore slumps for everyone?

Philly's going to become a more lucrative market after this new CBA goes through. With them limiting the front loaded long term deals the way they want to, teams are going to be further equalized in what they can offer top players. But Philly has millions to be made in endorsements that many many other cities don't. It's going to star turning into something more like college football used to be where the school can offer only so much, but the backers and donors can offer a whole bunch more. We have them. A star coming to Philly can count on some serious extra cash that the CBA can't get their grubby Mits on

I say put him with Giroux to replace Jagr's scoring threat. the only question i have is what will it take?

How the HELL did he do that? WTF???? That's like 4 million more we could have thrown at Weber! Damn it Mezo!

Besides the way he handled Lindros (and some other injuries) Clarke's biggest mistakes were overpaying for players just over the hump of their prime. Homer's learning from that and hopefully he continues to. I know I shouldn't be too hard on Clarke, he's not a trainer or a doctor... but I think he let his own delusions about how durable he was and how protected he thought he wasn't and how much faster and bigger and more dangerous the game in the 90's was than the game in the 70's... I think he let that cloud his view of what many players (Lindros most notably) should have been able to withstand and play through.

We can Blame Clarke for screwing up the Lindros Situation. We can blame Clarke for never bothering to protect his (or Farwell's) investment. We can blame Clarke for allowing Lindros to return to action in the ECF's in 2000, a move that effectively ended our run and his career. We can blame Clarke for letting the disputes with Carl get so hyperbolic and so public.

Every potential trade partner is going to want: Cooter, Schenn, Jake, Marc Andre, or Read. We already dumped JVR and missed out on resigning Jagr. Personally, I'm not really willing to part with any of them for the likes of Bobby Ryan. This team needed to get Weber. But it probably bankrupted Nashville's franchise in the process, so it's not a total loss. Trades that involve anything more than picks will only damage this team further... unless you're trading Schenn for Stamkos, then we can talk.

This is news? We saw it go down We saw G disappear (like everyone else) We saw him go for surgery a few days after the season ended (along with a bunch of other Flyers) We saw how the rest of that series went down. We saw G go bonkers on Syd to start Game 6. My only questions are how was it allowed to transpire for so long (i.e. how did the FLYERS not pummel him silly earlier) and how the hell on top of everything else that little punk was doing, was Syd not suspended in that series? Fans around the league finally saw his true colors. Refs are less apt to put up with him now. They're starting to see him as the joke we all have been for some time. But Seriously... The Flyers are in the finals against the Kings if they are healthier IMHO and the key to staying healthy in the playoffs is NOT LETTING YOUR OPPONENT do that crap to you.

I think the league would nullify any such deal on the grounds that Poile is completely insane. Now that I mention it, the league may fully be not okay with this deal as it is. There was never any guarantee that if the deadline passed and we got him that the league wouldn't look at this and say, WTF!! You can't do this Homer!" especially not while we're going to be pretending for another decade that Pronger might come back and while they're in a heated debate with the Player's union over exactly the issue of front loaded decade long contracts with huge signing bonuses. Still... I wouldn't be surprised if now that they've signed him, we see Homer make a trade for him. This could just be a ploy for Poile to get something he really wants if he knows he has to lose Weber either way. Homer may just tell him to go to hell, you had your chance. Personally, I probably would have taken one of the earlier deals he was offered or the 4 first rounders guaranteed by the deal because either way, it's going to be a lot easier for a team like Nashville to sign a player like Shea Weber Next year under the new CBA than it is now. That's the other part of this... after the new CBA, a player like Weber won't be able to command a 14 year contract... they're trying to get the maximum contract length down to 5 years. Chances are good they'll end up around 7 or so which is still but, but it will handcuff guys like Homer and The Wild from throwing around deals like these big names got this summer. Ultimately my point is, it would be a HELL of a lot cheaper for Poile to replace Weber next off season with whoever the top D man is then. Still the smartest thing to trade him right back to us now for Poile.

Profit sharing won't cover all the signing bonuses. Weber can't carry the team or the franchise on his own. Rick Nash tried that and failed miserably. It won't be any different for Weber. My guess is that Nashville still plans to trade him (probably to the Flyers) they just want to get what they want for him. I say chances are good Homer calls their bluff and lets them play it out with the 110 million dollar man. he knows they can't do it. You may be able to wipe up the ice with his team ON the ice, but you don't screw with Homer in business. Poile's dug himself a hole no single player can dig him out of.

Poile is an idiot who just bankrupted his team. Well done moron. You could have kept your team competitive for the next ten years while simultaneously forcing the sale of a boatload of new jerseys, but instead you chose to piss off your captain and force him into acting your franchise player when it SHOULD BE QUITE obvious by now that the last thing that Shea Weber wants to be is a Nashville predator. If you do trade him in a year or four, because he hates his life and asks you for a trade (Rick Nash ring a bell you morons?) whatever you're going to get for him will have cost you Shea Weber AND 30 million dollars. IDIOTS. FLAT OUT IDIOTS. So Homer doesn't get Weber, but he has the satisfaction of knowing that beating homer will literally cost the franchise their existence within a few years. The Predators simply DO NOT have the market to make this deal worth their while.

LOL good one. You make a lot of sense though. this waiting game might be Nashville's attempt at a bluff of their own in order to try to get the trade they want tomorrow at 11:25pm. Nashville basically has two choices: Lose your two best players, rebuild and save your franchise with a million and six draft picks or Sign your best player, lose your second best player (Suter's already gone) bankrupt your franchise and watch them get moved to Kansas City or Quebec. It's a no brainer. They weren't keeping Weber next year. This way at least they get 4 draft picks out of it... and maybe, just maybe they talk Homer into a trade at the last minute to get more of what they want. They really have no choice. if they sign him, they're finished.

Totally agree. It ain't pretty, but that's the business. What's more, now that the Flyers have put their chips on the table as far as Weber's and his Agent are concerned, there's no reason for them to go backward if The Preds decide they'd rather have one of those deals back. Knowing homer and Snider, I could see some sort of "future considerations" deal eventually headed Nashville's way, but probably not for anyone actually on the NHL roster.

Homer tried to play nice several times. I'd be ticked if I were Poille or a Preds fan, but facts are facts. This is what it was going to take to keep Weber beyond this season because this is what people were going to throw at him next off season... well as much of this as the new CBA will allow anyway, which is a different though not unrelated story. Weber knows that because of the CBA demands ( 5 years maximum on new contracts supposedly) this will be his last chance to make a huge pay day like this. Hell, it'll be everyone's last chance to make a huge pay day like this. Next year Homer will literally only be able offer a fraction of this (as will any other GM). It benefits smaller market teams, but it damages the players and their earning potential. I'm not sure paying this much for a single guy is EVER a good idea (which is why I'm totally against any Rick Nash deal). but if anyone is worth it, Weber's probably the guy. Seeing the demands of the league from the new CBA (a debate that ironically homer is forced to side with the league and the other gms and presidents on), Homer and Snider know that if this will probably be their last chance to make Weber an offer he can't refuse. Sucks for Nashville, but really, the Preds options are: A) Sign him and bankrupt your team and hope you recoup sometime over the next 14 years. or B) Stay solvent, lose him and take double the draft picks for the next 4 years and use them and your extra cash to build a team in the new era in which no one will ever cost as much as Weber will cost you right now. Personally, it is a bitter pill, but any half smart business man would tell you, you gotta go with choice B. Signing Weber now just doesn't make any sense for Poile. It only makes sense for Homer because Snyder has the money to throw at him up front without risking bankruptcy.

Why would they do this? All the Predators have to do is match and then Weber is a Predator for life. Is there some loop hole where the Predators can match the per year salary for a shorter period of time? I mean after last year it seemed fairly obvious that Weber wasn't interested in a super long term commitment to the Predators. If the Predators have to match for 14 years, why wouldn't they? It's a 7 million cap hit over a longer period of time, yes, but that's what they're paying him now. How does this do anything but Doom Weber to playing in Nashville for the rest of of his career? I mean yeah, it keeps him off the Penguins, Rangers and Devils I guess... but otherwise it seems like a bit of a jerk move. I also think it's a bit of a joke that in light of offers like this, the CBA is going to make everyone go through the charade of pretending that Pronger's career isn't over.

Bob's fate was sealed when Homer overpaid for Bryz. I never warmed up to Bob and he never did anything too fascinatingly impressive as far as I'm concerned. I think we'll miss Jagr. I think we'll miss JVR. I think we'll be happy to have L. Schenn, but I don't think it'll be that obvious as to why on a daily basis. The thing is that this team could be looking at a bunch of young guys getting even better or it could be looking at a ridiculous mass sophomore slump. I have no idea which. I think Carle probably was worth the 5.5 million, but for how many years would he have required it? Next year will see the Flyers go all in on Weber... if not before at the deadline. We may also see a big play for Bobby Ryan now... don't be surprised. But there's a strong core here and it's truly going to be hard to trade any of them in order to upgrade until we know what we have on our hands. Even though the Flyers suddenly have a bunch of cap room on their hands, there really wasn't much of a free agent Market this year... and Homer screwed himself out of jagr and carle to make plays for Parise and Suter. Jagr would have been worth the money for a short time, so that'll hurt, but like I said, Carle for more than a few years would have handcuffed what the team is going to need to do in three or four years time.

Not if I could trade picks for him at the deadline or just sign him outright in a year.

Probably easier to trade his rights if he's an unsigned RFA. Not that I think they would or should... but they need a goal scorer or two and this keeps their options open.