fanaticV3.0

The big difference is that Pronger was an "over 35" contract, so the Flyers are on the hook for the whole thing. Not so with Weber. If he retires at 36 or whatever, the Flyers just say goodbye and good luck.

Weren't Hatcher and Rathje both under 35 and if so, why did they have to continue paying them when they couldn't play? A LTIR thing?

Exactly. Unless - like Gratton - the NHL decides that it would be a sad if a team following the rules is allowed to legally sign a player and require the Flyers to compensate the Predators.

Polie's window to trade Weber (to anyone but the Flyers) has closed. And he's now faced with four (likely low) first round picks as compensation.

Polie is going from a GM of the Year nominee to a Scott Howson wannabe.

You waive him and he refuses to report to the AHL.

Pronger's deal was a 35+ contract which is why his number is still on the cap. Weber's deal isn't. If Weber doesn't want to play the last three years on the deal at $1M each, he can retire. Which he can really do at any time he likes.

And what happens when he refuses to report to the AHL?

however this shakes out... i think this has to be considered a pretty brilliant move by the flyers. there is no lose in this situation for us. weber is either going to be a flyer or a pred for the rest of his career. homer took control of the situation in a big way and has narrowed all options to just those 2. very very smart.

anyone who's questioning the length and terms of the deal needs to look at the bigger picture. this is *the* one player you throw the bank at. but, more than that... this offer seems to be more of a forcing of the hand of nashville. poille wasn't liking our trade offers, i suppose. well, now he has to consider those more seriously.

worst case scenario is basically nashville matching and we go home empty handed. but so does vancouver, detroit, pitt, rags... on and on. i can't see a negative to this move as surprising as it is.

I don't really see how you can say that.

He is going to be 27 in about a month. I'd say the odds are pretty good he won't play 14 more years. So what happens then? What happens when he's washed up and simply too old/banged up to play and there's still has like 5 years left on his contract. Isn't that why people hated the Pronger contract?

We traded Bob for a prayer, and got nothing to immeditaley help the team, Bob would have been best utilized in a package deal, or we shoud have kept him one more year, is the 500,000 we save on his contract really gonna make a difference. Instead we are stuck with two slow moving turltles in the net. Leighton was an inconsistent goalie, and still will be. To me our goaltending is definitely weaker.

We lost Jagr and JVR... so we definitley lost size and scoring, sure JVR was hurt, but at worst he would have scored 20-25. Jagr was not worth what he was asking ,but unless we get Doan, everyone else is a an old washed up stiff or euro puss like Semin. Now theres talk of Bobby Ryan ,how will that help? You will be giving up 2 players at least, so that will furhter erode our depth and goal scoring.

Things looked good when we got Schenn, but only if we had kept Carle or added Suter. So all we really did was swap Carle for Schenn. We gain in hits, and defensive skill, but we lose in puck rushing, and passing ability. So we still have Mez and Timo , off back surgery and Bruno Gervais is no help at all, if we lose Timmo at all we are finished.

So, for all intents and purposes, we area weaker all around team than we were last year

The way I see it, we mostly got rid of guys I didn't want anyway. I'm glad JVR and Carle are gone and while I'm not actually outwardly happy Bob is gone, I simply don't care. He was nothing special. The only one I'll miss and think the team could have benefitted from keeping was Jagr.

Put Shea Weber in front of Bryzaster for the next 8 years, and that'll go a long way towards fixing his problems.

I don't know if it will or won't, but I like it in theory. I'm willing to chalk up one shaky year to a new environment and being Philly of all places. But we're stuck with the guy until he stops playing, so might as well put a wall in front of him.

I had no idea until I read this.... I had to confirm and found, much to my dismay, that you were correct. Such a shame, those suckers were awesome

I liked her a lot better when she had a few more lbs on her. She wasn't fat, I don't know why she saw the need to slim down. She was superhot before. Now, she doesn't do a whole lot for me. I still wouldn't kick her out of bed, but she's not one of my favs anymore.

14 years 100 million

https://twitter.com/darrendreger

I would love to have Weber, but these longterm deals are horrible. If you just look at the Flyers alone, they haevn't panned out. Richards is already gone, Pronger will never be a major factor again, and Bryz is about a 2 week span away from being a total loss (1 bad year I can cope with, anything beyond that is a big problem).

I mean Christ, can anyone think of any of these deals that actually look good? What 10+ year contract - for any team - makes you say, "Now that's a smart investment?" Even the Crosby signing looks bad because of his recent healthy problems.

The league is headed for financial trouble with stuff like this.

@fanaticV3.0

Welcome aboard, my man! Glad to see you here.

What's up man? How's life been treating you? I forget if I talked to you or not when I popped up on philly.com a few months back. I know I talked a little bit to rux and then I just kinda forgot about the place until I checked on it the other day, saw the state of it, and heard about this joint.

@fanaticV3.0 Wow, I find the NFL pretty harsh, but ya know, when you really look at it, you sign a contract and are expected to live up to your portion of it...ie on the field/ice performance.....if you slip below that level, WHAM....you are gone, it does make sense on many levels. Multimillion dollar contracts are excellent incentive to live your life right off the field/ice and capatalize on your prime years. Of course, the part that sucks guys perform up to expectations and are forced out by youngsters who make far less....that part must be tough to swallow. Those guys latch on somewhere, but the stigma of being outright released follows them forever.

It's more like the real world imo and simply makes it easier for a multmillion dollar organization to operate. The salaries in entertaint are completely out of control, but football is one of the few businesses that doesn't give all the power to that athlete/entertainer. You don't do your job? You're cut. Just like you or me.

Agreed, it's some of the most boring stuff on the planet, but to gain a full understanding of where the Flyers sit, or even where they might be headed, it really helps to have this stuff dumbed down to a certain extent. The posters I mentioned are pretty good at that.

As much as I hate football, I like that they can just cut a player if they want to. I think that's how it should be in sports.

@fanaticV3.0 I find this site to be full of excellent hockey talk. The very best posters from Philly.com and PTPITN combined with a mish mash of very knowledgeable posters that support other teams like the Pens and Wings. Literally any tough topic to understand (ie CBA, Salary Cap, the whole waiver process, etc) is broken down by guys like Van, rad, aziz....some of the best posters in the world (IMHO) at breaking down complex topics and making it very understandable. Not the most exciting topics mind you, but if you are a real fan, you need a working knowledge of these things to form a competent opinion on certain teams/players.

CBA and salary discussions? Sounds like knee-slappin' good time.

i agree. i liked his season and hope they resign him, but it is definitely too early to be throwing around big bucks, many years or both. give him a decent short contract and let him earn the big contract. one decent season isn't enough

I'm real curious to see what comes of him. I'm ok with a guy who scores in between 40-50 points a year and contributes others ways, but also curious what his ceiling could be.

For the record - big fan of boobies here.

Who isn't? Even Isaac Mizrahi had to reach for Scarlett Johansson's boobes; back when she still had them.

I agree with your points, it just didn't come out that way. My point (probably your's too) is that those intangibles can be had in much cheaper packages.

Oh I got ya. I read your post and was like, "I like boobies, but sure wouldn't turn down a 2nd set just because I already had another set within arms reach."

Those intangiblies already exist with Talbot.

So what? What's your point? You don't want more of something you like?

I don't want Doan at that money. Heck, we could get the same player in Brendan Morrow in one year for 2 or 3 million. They're both hard hitting mid-level scorers on the downside of their careers and Morrow is 2 years younger.

Again, neither do I.

@fanaticV3.0 Welcome, glad to see you finally made it over here!

I only knew here existed as of about a half hour ago and I can't say I'm glad to be here yet, but thanks!

**** Mike Richards and the horse he rode in on (AKA Jeff Carter).

**** yes! I love this move. I love me a good role player.

I like Doan. He's got some nice intangible skills and has always been stuck on rather lackluster teams. But not at that money, somebody else can have him.

I am hoping because they aren't in a rush to overpay him the way they do 90% of the rest of their recent signings. I like the kid, but he's a roleplayer at this point. I don't want to see him get Leino money or anything.