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Is Shea Weber wasting his time/talent?


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I was looking at the Norris nominations threads, and a lot commented about how Weber was playing on a crappy team, compared to the other two.

The guy's 28, has already two Olympic gold, and probably has at least 4 more years of competing for the Norris.

When I look at Nashville, yes they have two solid building blocks on the back end with Weber and Jones, but their offense is lacking at least one true 1st line player, like it always has. They made a good trade for Forsberg, but I doubt he'll be that guy.

They've had solid goaltending with Rinne, but with his injured season, who knows if he'll ever regain his form.

Also, the mastermind behind Nashville's competitive streak, despite lack of top players, is gone. And it could be a while before they find another match like him. In facts, I believe they will probably go through 2-3 coaches in a span of 4-5 years before they find the right guy again.

Which brings me to my title, is Weber wasting his time/talent, on a team that I don't really see contends in the next five years? Should they do like Columbus (Nash) and trade Weber for a lot of significant pieces (roster/prospects/picks) and raise those players together, and specially around Jones. With the right returns, and good development they could actually be a better team in 5 years without Weber than with him.

Now, i'm not saying he should be traded to Vancouver (even though i'd love that), but realistically, 28 other teams will bid for his services and we would easily be outbid.

But for a Canadian Kid, who's one of the best at his position and was a important piece of Team Canada's back to back gold, I'd like to see him play in a hockey/competitive market, whether it's Pittsburgh, Philly, California, Canada, NY, Chicago, Boston (Oh Dear Lord, maybe not the last two ;) lol).

**The only way I see Nashville competitive would be tanking for McDavid (or winning the lottery).

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I feel like the "passion to win" is really over-stated in hockey circles to amp up fan excitement. I bet the "passion to retire with 60 million dollars" is a lot greater for the actual players. Winning a Cup is probably just a nice bonus at that point.

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I'd say so, if he were on a team with some scoring up front I wouldn't be surprised if he had a cup by now. It's gonna be interesting to see what happens in Nashville, but he's stuck there unless he demands a trade, retires, or unless Nashville decides they want to deal him.

He's making millions, but it's still unfortunate.

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He could have rejected Philly's offer and say, look I know Nashville will match, and had it limited to 4-5 years.

Doesn't really make much sense.

From Shea's standpoint a contract like that takes him until he is 31-32 years old. Not your standard age bracket for holding the best leverage for an even bigger contract. If he wanted out he could have just tolerated his last RFA year and then hit the UFA market last offseason.

It also doesn't make sense for Philly to have offered him any kind of contract like that. Philadelphia wanted Weber and had no reason to randomly do Shea Weber a favor with no benefit for them and only irk a relationship with the Predators a former regular trade partner with the Flyers (Forsberg, Timonen, Hartnell).

Philadelphia knew Nash would match any normal offer. That is why they offered such a monster contract. A front loaded $110 million with $68 million in signing bonuses that was designed specifically to punch the paying team in the wallet early on. Philadelphia being a team that could easily withstand such a financial blow vs. Nashville a small market team that many thought may have to let Shea go simply because the team would not be able to afford it.

Ultimately Nash bit the bullet and kept him but Nashville also looks like the biggest loser in the deal now. Shea wins because he gets that money and given the teams terrible state may still get to go play for a contender soon via trade. Nashville loses because they are paying off the bulk of that contract now but not even being competitive. Philadelphia doesn't get Shea but they don't lose any picks or have to pay anything (hands clean). Any team that Shea could be traded to wins because Nashville will have eaten a huge amount of the actual salary already.

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He had an out but preferred the cash.

I don't blame him at all for doing so but he's still the architect of his own situation if he isn't enjoying himself.

I am sure he's content, though

Yup. It appears he's not that worried though, or he would have taken the one year offer sheet Gillis approached him with.

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Yup. My favourite NHL defeceman had his chance to sign a 1yr then go to UFA and sign with the Flyers but he cashed out instead. It's his own fault if he is stuck in Nashville. A poor franchise won't trade a Dman they just gave ~30M.

Out of all my favourite players (Stamkos, Toews, Getzlaf, Duchene, Giroux) Weber is the only one I can picture wearing another jersey.

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I was looking at the Norris nominations threads, and a lot commented about how Weber was playing on a crappy team, compared to the other two.

The guy's 28, has already two Olympic gold, and probably has at least 4 more years of competing for the Norris.

When I look at Nashville, yes they have two solid building blocks on the back end with Weber and Jones, but their offense is lacking at least one true 1st line player, like it always has. They made a good trade for Forsberg, but I doubt he'll be that guy.

They've had solid goaltending with Rinne, but with his injured season, who knows if he'll ever regain his form.

Also, the mastermind behind Nashville's competitive streak, despite lack of top players, is gone. And it could be a while before they find another match like him. In facts, I believe they will probably go through 2-3 coaches in a span of 4-5 years before they find the right guy again.

Which brings me to my title, is Weber wasting his time/talent, on a team that I don't really see contends in the next five years? Should they do like Columbus (Nash) and trade Weber for a lot of significant pieces (roster/prospects/picks) and raise those players together, and specially around Jones. With the right returns, and good development they could actually be a better team in 5 years without Weber than with him.

Now, i'm not saying he should be traded to Vancouver (even though i'd love that), but realistically, 28 other teams will bid for his services and we would easily be outbid.

But for a Canadian Kid, who's one of the best at his position and was a important piece of Team Canada's back to back gold, I'd like to see him play in a hockey/competitive market, whether it's Pittsburgh, Philly, California, Canada, NY, Chicago, Boston (Oh Dear Lord, maybe not the last two ;) lol).

**The only way I see Nashville competitive would be tanking for McDavid (or winning the lottery).

Ask what Nashville would want,

Trade Kesler, Edler to acquire those pieces,

Flip them to Nashville for Weber.

Canucks win the Cup.

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