Bold step by Nashville Predators to re-sign Shea Weber, to be beneficial in longer run -NHL Update
It took some thinking and a lot of guts but the Nashville Predators made it happen as they re-signed their captain and the National Hockey League’s (NHL) top defenseman to a 14-year, $110 million mega contract in order to match that which was set by Philadelphia
Flyers.
After losing defender and Weber’s right hand man, Ryan Suter, to the free agency and Minnesota Wild, Nashville did not have option but to offer Weber what he wanted if they wanted to put up any sort of fight in the league next season.
At the end of every NHL regular season, Weber was worried about where he would be playing next year with arbitration last season and an inevitable signing with Philadelphia Flyers, the 26-year-old is happy to be able to focus purely on winning now.
"It's a very exciting time for the Predators organization and myself," Weber said during a conference call. "It's a big step in the right direction. Ownership showed a commitment here in the last week. Now going forward I can focus on the important stuff,
getting ready for the season and getting ready to go this year."
Nashville Predators had already said that they would let Weber test the market and match any offer made by any other team in the league in order to give the defenseman want he wanted financially.
For chairman Tom Cigarran of the Nashville club, getting the most out the club and at the same time being able to money is the biggest objective at home.
"It wasn't a question on if we could come up with the money the first four years," Cigarran said. "It was, are we compromising our ability over time to pay players market value? … There is a number that we would have said, 'No, we can't do it.' But pretty
quickly Jeff [Cogen, CEO], David [Poile] and I concluded we could do it and we'd still have a team that could be an elite franchise."
Now, the only thing the Nashville Predators, Shea Weber and fans are looking forward to is winning and with his entire career ahead of him, a Stanley Cup should not be a problem at all.
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